


Destined for Disaster

by Golden_Moon_Huntress



Series: Destined for Disaster [1]
Category: Dragonriders of Pern - Anne McCaffrey
Genre: Death, Deliberate Mary Sues, Disaster, Firelizards, Not Canon Compliant, Original Weyr(s), Psychic Abilities, Repeat again - deliberate Mary Sues, Sometimes there is plot?, Tragedy (unless you want to see misfortune befall Mary Sues), characters from other fandoms who have no rights being there, characters who are totally in the wrong fandom, inexplicable superpowers, mysterious abilities, no one asked for this but I wrote it anyway
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-08-11
Updated: 2021-02-12
Packaged: 2021-03-06 00:02:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 27
Words: 43,564
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25840279
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Golden_Moon_Huntress/pseuds/Golden_Moon_Huntress
Summary: With most of their candidates being either Mary Sues, stereotypical caricatures, or blatent rip offs from other fandoms, Sunspyre Weyr’s latest Hatching can only be Destined for Disaster.
Series: Destined for Disaster [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1875025
Comments: 6
Kudos: 10





	1. Prologue: On the Sands

**Author's Note:**

> I do not own the Dragonriders of Pern or any related content. All rights belong to their rightful owners. The full version of this fic is already up on Fanfiction.net; I am currently cross-posting my works. There will be a longer note at the bottom.

Senior Weyrwoman Jalenna stood on the sands and looked over her dragon's most recent clutch of seventy one eggs. Her dragon, Nareth, was known for her large clutches, but this was unprecendented. Jalenna had never known such a large clutch, and, asking around the other Weyrs, neither had they. It was the largest clutch in living memory. Sirice, the Weyrwoman at Benden, had suggested it might be the biggest clutch in history. Jalenna planned to dust off the records to research that. She wondered if the size had something to do with the number of dragons and riders who had died of the fever sickness in the last six months and Nareth was trying to make up the numbers.

Her gaze roamed over the clutch once more.

It worried her more than it should.

There were two Queen eggs, set slightly apart from the others atop their own plinth of sand. That was rare, exceedingly rare, but there were stories of it happening a few times in history. Jalenna herself could only remember one other occasion, back before she had even impressed, when her mother, then the Senior-Weyrwoman, took her to the Hatching at Benden. It had ended in tragedy, with the two gold hatchlings seeing each other as competition and fighting. Two candidates were killed, one was seriously injured, the smaller hatchling died of her injuries and the bigger one’s impression had been… less than stable, with dragon and rider dying very young.

Jalenna wet her lips. Her own daughter was one of the candidates for this clutch. She couldn’t let that happen again.

But then there were the other… oddities.

There was a third egg with a sort of gold sheen to its shell, especially when the light hit it, but it was nowhere near as bright as its sisters, who had been placed up high for show and shone in the light. Nareth had left it with the other eggs of the clutch, and it was amongst the smallest. There were theories popping up already, after only one day, and a betting pool had already started as to whether it was a normal egg, a Sport, a dud, or a funny looking Queen egg. If it was the last, they would be making history. Three Queens in one clutch would be unprecendented.

There was a massive egg, bigger even than any Queen egg Jalenna had ever known, but with a plain, mottled shell. Many riders were speculating it was simply a very big bronze. There was another large one as well, roughly the same size as the smaller of the two full sized Queen eggs and a little smaller than the biggest. There was money on that one being a bronze too.

There was one of the medium sized eggs that had a funny bluish colour to its shell others that Nareth had carefully isolated a little from the rest of the clutch and glared at every so often. Jalenna wondered if it was a dud; her dragon often treated them like that.

There were five slightly smaller than average eggs, which, in a clutch this size, was perhaps to be expected.

There were also two much too small eggs, half the size than even the smallest of the others, which Nareth had contemptuously shoved over to the side of the sands with a humph. Small eggs were no worry; small eggs happened. They probably wouldn’t hatch.

K'res, her Weyrmate and the Weyrleader, strode out onto the sands to join her.

"What do we have?" she asked.

"Eleven boys and three girls."

Jalenna sighed heavily.

“But I’ve sent R’lon and J’tith out to visit some of the ones that went home after Desuneth’s clutch. Some of them wanted to stand again but were needed to help their families. And S’mal says once the clutch at Igen hatches in a couple of weeks he’ll ask the disappointed candidates if they want to stand here afterwards.”

“How many will that give?”

“If we assume about half say yes, roughly fifteen or so. And they’re all boys; Igen doesn’t put girls to green.”

Jalenna nodded thoughtfully. “We need at least a hundred. A hundred and fifty if the hatchlings are to have a good chance.”

“I’m arranging Search as we talk.”

Jalenna lay her head on his shoulder and smiled out across the sands.


	2. Annalissa: It's a Hard Knock Life

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I do not own the Dragonriders of Pern or any related content. All rights belong to their rightful owners. I also don’t own the character this character is a blatent carbon copy of.

They found the baby in a basket on the doorstep with a note that said ‘please look after my sweet little Annaliessa, I can't take care of her.’ The matron sighed and carried the baby through to the nursery where there were approximately seven point eight five other abandoned baby girls. And thus began Annaliessa 's life of woe.

When she was old enough, she was sent from the Healing Hall to an orphanage just outside Halfwood Hold. Because everyone was much too busy to deal with one little orphan girl, she was made to walk it herself with only a set of vague directions and a fair of helpful wild firelizards for guidance.

The woman who ran the orphanage was called Mrs Harbucal, and she was a tall, thin woman with red hair and a screechy voice. She glared at Annaliessa, all of an innocent three years old, with beautiful yet sorrowful wide eyes and a cute look of confusion on her face, who was stood on the doorstep. "Great. Another one. It's like they multiply! I get rid of one and two more appear!"

This was true, because behind Annaliessa another girl had arrived, this one a bit fat with stringy brown hair and mud on her face.

"Get inside you useless little girls!"

And thus continued Annaliessa’s life of misery and woe.

Every day the orphans were woken before dawn to start their day of hard work and misery. They slept in four small cramped rooms, twelve girls in each, on hard wooden bunks with thin, threadbare - a word which here means thin – blankets. Pillows were a luxury they lacked.

They were made to work for their keep washing laundry by the owner of the orphanage. It was hard, back breaking work. For breakfast they had gruel, a kind of gritty porridge with no taste. For tea they had more gruel, which tasted vaguely of salt, and for lunch they had - you guessed it - a dry hunk of bread and a wizened old apple.

Despite the terrible food and living conditions, Annaliessa grew into a pretty girl with skin as black as midnight, thick curly hair the colour of shining slate that feel gracefully to her elbows, and eyes as black as coal. She was a bold and independent girl, and always dreaming of leaving to seek her fortune, adventure, and her parents - but of course she never did so because her kind and loving heart could never dream of leaving the younger girls behind to their fate. All the others looked up to her for help and guidance, even when she was only six and they were thirteen with no real need to ask a six year old for help.

One day, which was like all the other days where Annaliessa washed clothes, took care of the little ones due to her sweet and giving nature, and sang, dragons came to the Hold on Search.

A young runner boy came to bang on the door of the orphanage. "Dragons on Search! Everyone between the age of twelve and twenty one needs to go to the square!"

"What's this?" asked Mrs Harbucal. "A chance to get rid of some of you brats? Go on then, off you go! Out with you! Get to the square!"

Annaliessa quickly gathered up all forty one point six nine of the other girls and hurried them along (of course they weren't all of age, most of them were under ten), the little ones chirping with excitement. It wasn't every day they got to see dragons.

There were three dragons, one shining bronze and two that were deep blue. Annaliessa hard at them and imagined dragonriders must get to have vast adventures.

She herded the twenty eight point three girls who were too young to one side of the square and quickly joined one of the lines of teenagers.

"I am bronze rider M'buk. This is my dragon Moneth. He will be Searching for candidates for the clutch of eggs on the sands at SunSpyre Weyr. Please stay still while the dragons make their choices."

In the crowd Annaliessa’s great beauty made her an obvious choice and as soon as the dragons began to make their choice the bronze gave her a nudge. It took longer for them to make their choices on the obviously less important candidates, but at last they were decided and went to preen at the other side of the square.

"If one of the dragons chose you, please step forward. If they didn't, please move back," said the bronzerider."

Annaliessa, a chubby girl with stringy brown hair and a green firelizard on her shoulder and three unimportant and nameless boys including the runner who had brought the message to the orphanage stepped forward.

"You five have the honour of being chosen. Would you like to come to the Weyr?"

Annaliessa graciously accepted, while the others cried ugly tears and agreed.

"Go and pack and say goodbye. We leave at three."

Annaliessa skipped back to say goodbye to the other thirty eight point four one orphan girls and hugged them all in turn.

"Oh Annaliessa, we'll miss you!" cried one.

"Oh Annaliessa, what will were do without you?"

"Will you get a queen dragon?"

"Will you come to visit?"

"Of course! I could never forget you!" Annaliessa sobbed. "But I need to go? Why can't you see that?"

"Oh Annaliessa, we'll just miss you so much!"

"Don't be silly! You'll have each other! And always remember, the sun will come out tomorrow!"

"Of Annaliessa, you're so wise!"

When Annaliessa had bid farewell to all forty five point nine two of the other orphan girls, she went back to the dragonriders.

"Don't you have anything to bring with you?"

"I don't own anything," said Annaliessa sadly. "And I've said goodbye. There's nothing here for me now."

And so (as soon as the other, less important candidates had arrived), Annaliessa left for her new life of adventure at the Weyr to seek excitement, adventure, and maybe even a queen dragon.


	3. Dorasa and Yariel: Honour to Us All

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I do not own the Dragonriders of Pern or any related content. All rights belong to their rightful owners.

Things at Porret Hold were busier than normal with the upcoming visit by dragonriders. Amidst all the chaos, Yariel, son of Jamen, one of Lord Sulrac’s numerous sons, sat in his closet of a room and stayed out the way. His grandfather was determined that at least one of his many daughters or granddaughters would be chosen as a candidate for the golden eggs they said were hardening on the sands at Sunspyre Weyr, and so all the girls between twelve and twenty four were busy preening themselves and dressing in the most beautiful, outlandish dresses they could find.

Yariel’s bedroom door opened a crack and his older sister Dorasa slipped inside.

All except one, apparently.

Yariel wondered why that was. Dorasa would make a perfect Queenrider: beautiful, fit, clever, a good leader. But they were the unfortunate black sheep of their family after the deaths of their parents at the hands of a cruel and deranged warlord who believed they were the ones that would one day stop him, which, ten turns later, they had, so she had been overlooked in favour of girls with a higher social Ranking.

“Aren’t you getting ready for the Search visit?”

Dorasa shrugged and smoothed down the skirt of her dress, which was a few years old by now and not really her colour, but had been mended perfectly and suited her just fine. She could look beautiful in almost anything of course, including old men’s boots and an overly large tunic, which they both knew from experience. One of her bronze firelizards, Sal, was draped over her shoulders, while Ric, the other, clung to her hip. His own firelizards, Queen Glimmer and brown Marvel, chirped a happy greeting to their brothers.

“Aunt Tunua’s discussing who I should marry again with grandfather.”

Yariel sighed. Aunt Tunua, their mother’s sister, had married a very distant cousin of their father’s, Verlox. She had been pushing for Dorasa to be married off since his sister turned twelve. He sighed. It was beginning to get quite tiring having to constantly deter suitors from his sister – or challenge them to an honour duel.

“Who is it this time?”

“The Lord of Sweetmeadow.”

Yariel pulled a face. Lord Fildus was a nice guy, but he was more than three times their age. They had met him once, on their grand quest for justice and revenge.

“I know. She also suggested Swebyn. You remember, that awful kid from High Tops?”

“I remember,” muttered Yariel. “He was the one that tried to throw us off a mountain for fun.”

“Yep.”

“Why does she suggest such awful suitors?”

“Probably sees it as a punishment. She’s married to Verlox; she probably thinks everyone has to be miserable.”

“Are you still thinking about putting yourself up as a candidate?”

“What else is there for me here?”

She did have a point. They couldn’t go on as they had done: he was nearly a man grown and only a distant relative of the Holder while Dorasa was at the age where she should be getting married. Many girls her age already were.

“You should come too. We can’t do this forever. We’re getting a bit old for it.”

“But what if people need help?”

“I heard there’s a boy up near Sweetmeadow that killed four felines three sevendays ago.”

“Alright. I’ll go if you do.”

“Deal.” She glanced at him. “But you better make yourself presentable in that case.”

Yariel looked down at himself. He was a handsome boy of fifteen turns with messy black hair that refused to ever lie flat. Green eyes shone out from a tanned face. His figure was nicely muscular without being too bulky if you know what I mean.

"What's wrong with me?"

Dorasa sighed heavily. “You need to make yourself presentable for the dragonriders! Get changed. Make yourself look smart." She marched over to his wardrobe and began to search through his clothing.

"You must have something that fits properly."

Yariel shrugged. "Most of it's been passed down from Dudlen.”

Dorasa pulled a set of trews and a smart shirt from the wardrobe.

"Stand up."

He did so. She held the shirt against him, slung it over her arm and did the same with the trews. "These should be fine." She set them down on his stool.

“Are you going to get changed?”

“Do I need to?” She fluffed out her skirt, which didn’t really work since it was only a thin one layer. “Besides, all the other rooms are already being used.”

“All of them?”

“They are if I want to use them.”

“Oh.” Yariel thought about it. “Well, you could get changed in here if you wanted to I guess. It’s a bit cramped, but it’s not like we haven’t shared space before.”

She smiled. “Thanks Yariel.”

At that moment a great banging came on his bedroom door.

“Boy! Yorry! Get out!” came his Aunt Tunua’s voice. He opened the door a crack.

“My name is Yariel.”

“Whatever. A great meal is being prepared for the Lord dragonriders. Get down to the kitchen and help cook!”

“Aren’t there enough drudges and cooks for that?”

“Don’t talk back to me boy! Get down there! And tell your sister too, wherever she’s gone.”

Yariel sighed. “Yes Aunt Tunua.”

“You know what she’s trying to do, don’t you?” asked Dorasa after she had left.

“Of course I do. Come on, let’s get ready first.”

The three dragons burst from _between_ above the Hold, a great bronze, a smaller brwn, and a slender blue. They circled the Hold once and landed neatly in the courtyard, inspiring awe from all around. Lord Sulrac greeted them and let them through to the hall, where a great feast had been set up.

In pairs or trios the Lord’s many, many, many relatives between ten and twenty five were paraded in front of the dragonriders. H’rak, bronzerider, requested several times simply to see them all at once, but Lord Sulrac insisted on introducing them separately and having them come up and speak to the riders before they dismissed them as being unsuitable.

Lord Sulrac was infamous for his enormous family. They could be here all night.

H’rak sighed. At least the wine was good.

They did find one boy, a small, dark haired one with pale eyes who was one of the Lord’s many byblows, but what they (and he) really wanted though was a female candidate for the golden eggs hardening on the sands.

He couldn’t be the only bronzerider to return without a female candidate! That would just be embarrassing.

He was well into his third cup of wine when they entered.

The boy was handsome, sure, deeply tanned and muscular with eyes like emeralds and a greatsword at his hip.

The girl though, she was breathtaking. Her deep red hair fell to her knees in gentle waves, framing a softly tanned heart shaped face with delicate features, full lips, and the same deep emerald green eyes as the boy. She wore tight trews and well fitted green tunic with tightly laced boots. At her hip she wore a slender silver sword.

“This is…” Sulrac waved his hand at them. “Ah, two of my grandchildren.”

They approached the table, the boy leading the girl by the hand.

“What are your names?” H’rak asked.

“I am Yariel, son of the Sun, slayer of the War Lord Romtedolv. This is my sister, Dorasa, daughter of the sky and slayer of the witch woman Xialle.”

“I’ve heard of you two,” said brownrider G’ron. “Aren’t you some kind of heroes?”

The boy smiled. “Something like that.”

“Would you like to come to the Weyr and stand as candidates?”

“Both of us?”

“If you would both come, then yes.”

The two looked at each other and smiled. “We would be honoured Lord dragonrider.”

“Very well. We leave this evening, so you have time to pack and say your goodbyes.”

“Thank you my Lord.”

As they left, H’rak couldn’t help thinking that he had just found Sunspyre’s new Queenrider, along with a new bronzerider to boot.

It was another two hours before Lord Sulrac had finished introducing all his many children, grandchildren, and distant relatives. They found another boy, a large, muscular thing with blonde hair, who was one of those distant relatives. Afterwards, they met with some of the local commoner teens within age and found two more, a tall lad of sixteen and a thin, waifish looking one with cropped purple hair and lilac eyes. The three dragons were loaded up with trunks and candidates before taking off into the air.

And so it was that Yariel and Dorasa, prophesised ones, left for the Weyr in search of a new purpose in life.


	4. Sirena: I Hope You’ll Like It Here

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I do not own the Dragonriders of Pern series.

The entire Weyr was buzzing, and, of course, talking about nothing but Nareth’s unprecendentedly large clutch. Sirena knew full well there were already bets going out on whether she would impress one of the golds. She was, after all, the daughter of the Senior-Weyrwoman, whose mother had been Senior-Weyrwoman before her, and hers before her.

It was a family legacy stretching back four generations, and further than that if one counted the fact her great great great grandmother had ridden green, a rarity for women at that time, though no longer at Sunspyre, and her father had been a brownrider.

It was a family legacy Sirena had broken six years ago when she failed to impress golden Lulorth, who had chosen Ranking Jalmoka instead. Jalmoka had been a beautiful girl, but had nothing between the ears, and was proving time and time again to be a terrible Queenrider.

People often talked about how much worse she must be if Lulorth would rather choose her.

Her mother said it was probably just her age that had worked against her. She had only been fourteen back then.

Now though, now there was a second chance. Two of them! Possibly even three, if one counted the Strange Gold.

If she didn’t impress gold, Sirena told herself, she had to impress one of the other colours. This was really her last shot. She was nearly out of age to stand for impression, in fact, she would be had she been a boy.

She would take any colour, she would take green or whatever was inside one of the Odd Eggs, just so long as she impressed.

Many at the Weyr were confused as to why she hadn’t, and there were those arguing she had been waiting for her gold to be shelled.

They would see.

“At least we should soon have some more company around here,” Revina said as she tied off Sirena’s long blonde braid. She was a weyrbred girl from the lower caverns with coppery red hair and merry hazel eyes, though had a fearsome temper when one riled her up. “It is beginning to get a bit dull – and tiresome – with only us and Kuyaran.”

Sirena smiled thinly. Kuyaran was often one of those people to rile Revina’s temper. She was the daughter of Wingleader bronzerider T’vron, and didn’t she know it? Her favourite topic was how she hadn’t impressed yet because she was meant for gold, and her second favourite was that of her father’s status. When there were more female candidates here before the last Hatching, Kuyaran had insisted on having her own sleeping chambers on account of her status. If that was the way things worked, Sirena should have had separate chambers, not her, but she was happy to share with Revina. She gave in just for the sake of keeping the peace.

“Mm, but with the two Queen eggs, we’re likely to get a bunch of tunnel snakes, stuffy Ranking girls, or airheads who want to impress gold.”

They swapped places, with Revina sitting on the stool and Sirena standing behind her.

“We all know who one of those gold eggs belongs to.”

“I’m glad you acknowledge it,” came a voice from outside their chambers a moment before Kuyaran let herself in. “And if the other gold is intelligent enough to choose one of you, as it should, we shouldn’t need more Queen candidates.”

Revina scowled. Sirena tugged a bit harder than needed on her hair.

“You know full well they need to give the Hatchlings choice. There were ten of us last time for Lulorth’s egg, and that was only one.”

“And she still chose the wrong rider,” Kuyaran muttered. Something they could agree on at least. “I came to make sure I would keep my chambers to myself when they start bringing others in.”

“Of course you won’t,” Sirena replied.

“What?”

“You can’t. It’s a matter of space.”

“A bronzerider’s daughter is due-”

“Nothing. We’re all the same Rank here. We’ll be looking at more female candidates this time; we won’t have the room for you to be special.”

Kuyaran sneered and stalked out. Revina scowled. “A dragon would have to be half-witted to choose someone as sour as her over- literally anyone else.”

“The dragons choose,” Sirena said, fastening her braid. “Mother says the first candidates might be arriving today. Do you want to come meet them and interfere with me?”

Someone would need to take over her duties when she was gone. Revina was only fourteen, but if she didn’t impress she would do just fine. Revina grinned. “Sounds like a great plan.”

Sirena held her hand out. “Shall we go?”

They took their breakfast out to the Weyrbowl and sat at the top of the slope, where they could look out over the sea. Sunspyre was set on an island, and in fact, the island was the Weyr. A few blue and green dragons flew out over the water, dipping their wings in the waves.

“Do you think you’ll impress this time?” Revina asked.

“I hope so.”

If she didn’t, she would have to find a new position, a new place to fit in, and their family legacy would be irrevocably broken, since her mother was unable to have any more children now.

Two of the Search dragons, green Chanloth and blue Hiloth, burst from between above the bowl. Sirena shoved her uneaten bread roll back into her bag and sprang to her feet. “Show time!”

Four of the passengers on the two dragons were boys, who they had no say with, but the other two were girls, who the riders helped down to the ground. The smaller one gazed around, while the taller sneered down her nose.

“F’don, C’las, new candidates?” Sirena asked, wandering over to scratch Hiloth’s eye ridge. F’don nodded as he lifted trunks down from the blue.

“From Redtrees Hold. Girls, this is Sirena. She’s in charge of the girls’ dormitory. We’ll leave you in her capable hands.”

The smaller girl curtsied neatly. “Thank you Lord riders.”

The taller girl grunted a reply.

“Right,” said Sirena after the two dragons left. “Grab your trunks, this way. You boys can come too, your quarters are near enough to ours.”

The smallest boy, who only looked about ten or eleven, giggled nervously.

“What are your names?”

“Jakeiria,” replied the older girl, who had long, thick dark hair worn loose to her midback, narrow, dark eyes, and sallen skin. “Who put you in charge?”

“I have authority by seniority and the fact I’ve been here longest.”

“Then you can’t be a very good candidate, can you?”

Sirena flushed scarlet. Revina scowled in righteous anger. “How dare you?”

Sirena touched her arm. “If you’d follow me, I’ll show you to the candidate barracks.”

“Won’t someone be helping with my trunk?”

“Your trunk is your responsibility.”

The smaller girl picked her much smaller luggage up with no trouble or protest. The taller one left hers in the Weyrbowl, muttering something about sending drudges for it later.

“You never told me your name,” Sirena said to the smaller girl.

“Ritilia,” she whispered. “I’m sorry about my sister. She’s… She’s always like that.”

“Trust me kiddo, I’ve seen worse. She’ll either get better, or she’ll get gone. You need any help with that?” She pointed at her trunk. Ritilia shook her head.

“It’s not heavy.”

Sirena pointed the boys through to their quarters and led the two girls into theirs. There were twelve sleeping chambers, each currently equipped for two girls in each, but with room for the beds to be turned into bunks if needed.

“Pick a chamber,” Sirena said. “You’re the first ones in, so you’ve got first pick.”

Ritilia took the chamber next to hers, while Jakeiria took one at the other side, next to Kuyaran. While they were settling, M’buk arrived with two girls following behind him.

“Two more for you Sirena. This is Annaliessa and Tummi.”

Annaliessa was a slender girl of fifteen, with dark skin and a head of black curls. She was beautiful, and her tattered, threadbare clothes could do nothing to hide that. Tummi was her opposite in every way, a pasty skinned chubby girl with stringy brown hair and a green firelizard perched on her shoulder.

“Oh, this is so exciting!” Annaliessa babbled. “Flying dragonback is wonderful! Will we get to do it again?”

“Probably not any time soon,” Sirena replied, deciding to partner her up with quiet, pale Ritilia. “You’ll be in this room. Didn’t you bring anything with you?”

“I didn’t have anything to bring. I’m an orphan,” Annaliessa replied sadly.

“Right. I’ll take you down to the tailor later. Tummi, you’re in this room next to her.”

Once they were all settled in their room, Sirena gathered the four new girls in the common room. “First things first. If you haven’t any of the necessities, let me know and I’ll get you sorted. Annaliessa, I know, I’ll sort you.”

Jakeiria rolled her eyes.

“If you haven’t any trews, let me know and I’ll get you some made. There’ll be no dragonriding in skirts. Do any of you have any questions before I show you around?”

Annaliessa, of course, jumped straight in. “When do we get to see the eggs? When do they hatch?”

“Not yet and not yet. Anyone else?”

There wasn’t, and so off they went for a tour of the Weyr.


	5. Kuyaran: I won’t say I’m in love.

Kuyaran lounged in the common room, idly oiling Dancer, her Queen firelizard. Sunspyre had been putting girls to green for a good hundred turns now, they found it was better for the running of the Weyr and a good half of their greenriders were women. There wasn’t a need for all this fuss over Queen candidates though, it was obvious who would impress them, at least in her eyes. It had to be. One would be hers and the other Sirena’s, with Revina maybe impressing a green.

Kuyaran had dreamt of being a dragonrider like her father since before she could remember. It was the one thing she wanted most in life. She would fly and prove her name and worth.

She was first put on the sands at fifteen, and failed to impress any of the little greens (or the blue she half-heartedly tried for). Since then, she had failed to impress at any of the following seven Hatchlings and had begun to despair and try for blue and even brown dragons.

Then Nareth laid her twin Queens, as people were starting to call the two Queen eggs.

It had to be fate. One for her, one for Sirena. And, if the rumours were true, a queer funny looking one, but people didn’t count that one. A lot of people thought it was a dud.

The door flung open. Kuyaran barely glanced, expecting it to be Sirena and the new candidates back – so soon – and then had to double take when it wasn’t.

The candidate master, D’vran, was stood in the doorway. He was an older man, grey haired and grizzled with thread score, and a green rider to boot. Normally that made sense, as the girls were standing for greens, though Kuyaran did bristle at being ordered around by one in such a low ranking as a green rider. She had thought they would bring in someone else for the Queen candidates, but no.

He wasn’t alone though, and it wasn’t him Kuyaran was looking at.

Behind him was a girl, maybe about her age, clad in a green tunic and trews that suited her _very_ well and showed off her muscular figure _very_ nicely. Two bronze firelizards were twined about her neck.

She was the most stunningly beautiful girl Kuyaran had ever seen.

Kuyaran slithered to her feet. “Good afternoon candidate master.”

“Good afternoon Kuyaran. Is Sirena around?”

“No, she’s showing the other new girls around.”

“Ah right. This is Dorasa, one of our new girls.”

The other girl stepped around into the room, glancing around with glittering emerald eyes. She had long red hair, a deeper and more vibrant colour than Revina’s, bound back in an intricate looking braid. A wicked looking silver dagger hung at her hip.

“Dorasa, this is Kuyaran, one of our other candidates.”

“Nice to meet you,” said Dorasa in a soft, musical voice.

“I, uh, uh, I…” _Way to sound good Kuyaran._ “Nice to meet you too.” _There! Good!_

“You’ll be staying here, so I’ll leave you to get settled in and Kuyaran can show you around.”

“Thank you sir.”

Dorasa had only brought a lightweight trunk with her, which she hauled easily into the common room. “So where do I set up?”

“Most of the chambers are empty at the moment, just pick one. You’ll probably get a roommate when more girls start arriving.”

Dorasa took the fourth one from the end, dragging her trunk in and placing it at the end of one bed. “How long have you been here?”

“All my life. I’m weyrbred. My father’s a bronze rider.”

“Must be nice.”

“It is. How about yours?”

“My parents are dead.”

“Oh.”

“They died when I was young.”

“I’m sorry.”

“Killed by the warlord who wanted to kill us.”

“Oh.”

_Wow._

“You, um, you want to see around the Weyr?”

Dorasa smiled sweetly, lighting up her face just right. “Can Yariel come?”

“Yariel?”

“My brother.”

_Oh._

Beauty must run in their family or something. Yariel was younger than Dorasa by a couple of years, but already as tall as her, with a similarly muscular build and the same sparkling emerald eyes that she had, though he had a mop of messy raven black hair as opposed to her red. He wore a large broadsword where she wore her dagger. He too had two firelizards, a Queen which was wrapped around his neck and a brown perched on his shoulder.

The two of them followed her intently around the Weyr. Annoyingly, many of the riders they passed took notice of Dorasa, stopping to stare or breathe out sharply. After the second one Yariel took her hand, after the fourth he pulled her closer, and finally after the eighth he seemed to break, stopping to glare at Weyrling bronze rider L’tron after he whistled in appreciation at her and resting his hand on his sword. “Don’t look at her like that! She is a person, not a slab of meat!”

“Yariel,” Dorasa murmured.

“Oh, come on,” whined L’tron, who had always been a bit of a prick to be honest. “If you’re not doing that, I will.” He raised his eyebrows at Dorasa. “You want some fun darlin?”

It was the wrong thing to say.

100%

Yariel punched him in the face.

Kuyaran couldn’t even said he hadn’t deserved it.

Both boys were dragged off to their respective masters. Dorasa sighed. “I’m sorry. We get that a lot. It really rubs Yariel up the wrong way.”

“I… gather.” Kuyaran could hardly blame people though. The girl was remarkably beautiful. “You probably should be careful. Some riders can get rowdy, especially during or after a mating flight. It’s against Weyr code for them to force themselves on a woman, but it happens.”

Dorasa fingered her knife thoughtfully. “Thanks for the warning.”

Kuyaran got the feeling that was her way of saying she could look after herself.

They finished up the tour in more of a sombre mood. Dorasa lingered to look out over the bay. “Is it safe to swim in?”

“The lake’s safer unless you’re a strong swimmer, the currents can be pretty harsh in the bay.”

Dorasa smiled dreamily and nodded.

Yariel met them back at the candidate barracks, taking up a position at Dorasa’s side as though it was some sort of instinct.

“What did R’ton say?” Kuyaran asked.

“Something about him deserving it but me not using my fists to solve problems.” He scowled. “It’s always worked just fine before.”

Dorasa petted the head of one of her bronzes. “No matter. We knew it would be different here.”

He grunted a reply. Dorasa took his hand. “Come on. There are places here we can swim; I haven’t swum in ages! Kuyaran, do you swim?”

She shook her head. “I can, but I don’t.”

“Fair enough. We’ll see you later.”

Kuyaran watched them go with a soft smile.

Perhaps not all these new candidates were going to be useless objects or annoyances.


	6. Revina: Some day my prince will come.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I do not own the Dragonriders of Pern.

Annaliessa seemed to be full of endless questions, though many of them seemed odd ones, such as ‘how much laundry work do we have to do,’ ‘when do we tend to the little ones,’ and ‘what are the main meals here?’

Revina wondered what sort of life she’d had before. She knew some of the cotbred girls who came for the last Hatching had had hard lives and were used to harsh conditions.

If that was true though, Annaliessa seemed very… perky.

Annoyingly so.

Revina didn’t envy Ritilia.

She was pretty much the direct opposite of Annaliessa. Revina had heard her say about ten words since she arrived. Jakeiria meanwhile, was observing everything with a curious air of being unimpressed. Revina would never have known the two were sisters if Ritilia hadn’t said so.

They took them to the kitchens first, to introduce them to Jurdree, the Headwoman. She took Annaliessa away to get her sorted with clothing and necessities, which came as a thankful blessing.

She and Sirena took the remaining three girls around the rest of the Weyr, showing them the classrooms, which were set in caverns overlooking the sea, the firestone pit, the stables and livestock paddocks, and then leading them back to the Weyrbowl to rest for a while.

“We won’t normally get to rest here,” Revina said. “This is where the Candidate Master will have us doing exercise.”

Ritilia giggled and then covered her mouth with her hands.

“Exercise? Like running and stuff?” asked Jakeiria.

“And stuff. Candidates are expected to run messages, help with kitchen work, cleaning and herdbeast care, and walk sweep during threadfall.”

Jakeiria stared at her. “But we’re candidates!”

“You have to be fit to take care of a dragon, and you lot have only got five weeks to prepare. It’ll be tough work. Are you here for the Queen or just for the Hatching in general?” Sirena asked.

“The Queen, obviously,” Jakeiria replied. Revina winced.

“A Queen dragon’s hardest, since they’re the biggest.”

Yet every girl dreamt of riding a Queen dragon and being the envy of every person on Pern.

Revina, she would rather have a green, a tough little fighting dragon. Less responsibility and more freedom that way. When she stood on those Hatching sands, it wouldn’t be the Queen eggs she was looking at.

Jakeiria glared out across the weyrbowl.

“I don’t mind,” Ritilia whispered. “I don’t care what the colour is, so long as I bond.”

Jakeiria got to her feet. “Which is why _you_ will never be a Queen rider.” She swept off. Ritilia sighed and gazed after her.

“You’ve got more of a chance than her,” said Revina, though since Lulorth chose Jalmoka over Sirena that wasn’t necessarily true.

“That’s just how she is. You get used to it.”

“Dragons won’t,” said Sirena larconically. “Come on. Let’s get back inside.”

Pointedly, Sirena took them back to the kitchens and they got to work helping with the evening meal. Jurdree returned with Annaliessa, now wearing brown slacks and a soft red tunic. They suited her dark skin tone and only made her look more beautiful. She got to work quite cheerfully in the kitchen, though she clearly had no idea what she was doing. “We only ever had gruel, bread, and apples at the orphanage.”

“No diet for a growing girl,” muttered Jurdree, and put extra on her plate for their meal.

There were more male candidates now, Revina noticed, though not enough, not nearly enough. And a new girl with damp red hair sitting with the most handsome boy Revina had ever seen. Jakeiria had taken a seat with a group of bronze riders, while Annaliessa was sat with M’buk, who brought her in. Ritilia and Tummi sat together, a little way down from Sirena and Revina.

Kuyaran dropped into the seat beside Sirena. Dancer was perched on her shoulder.

“Who’s the new girl?” Sirena asked.

“Dorasa,” Kuyaran replied, stabbing her food at her mouth and missing as she gazed over at the other girl. Sirena elbowed her.

“You’re staring.”

“I think I’m in love,” Kuyaran replied, continuing to stare. Sirena raised her eyebrow.

“I didn’t know a bronzerider’s daughter swung that way.”

“Neither did I, but have you seen that girl? Shards and smoke Sirena, I think I just impressed on a human being!”

“Who’s the boy with her?” Revina asked.

“Yariel.”

Revina nodded thoughtlessly, took another mouthful of meat, and then started. “Wait, Yariel? Are they brother and sister?”

“Yeah.”

“Oh my gosh, you do know who he is?”

“A new candidate?” Sirena asked dryly.

“No! Well, yes, but he’s more than that! He’s the Chosen One, hero of light, slayer of the one who would have brought the darkness.”

Sirena eyed her as though she’d gone insane.

Kuyaran always looked at her like that.

“Mother used to tell me stories about him,” Revina said as she flushed scarlet. She decided not to mention all the dreams and daydreams she’d had where Yariel would sweep her off to marry or impress a bronze dragon while she took gold and they lived happily ever after.

Those dreams could still come true.

This could be perfect!

“Right,” muttered Sirena, still looking bewildered.

“I’m going to go and introduce myself,” she said, getting to her feet.

“I’ll come with you,” Kuyaran said.

Revina was pretty sure she just wanted an excuse to talk to Dorasa.

They were even more beautiful close up.

“Do you mind if we sit here?”

Yariel glanced at her. Revina had never seen eyes like that, so deep and dark she could get lost or drown in them.

“Hullo Kuyaran. Who’s this?”

“Revina. I’m one of the female candidates.”

Dorasa smiled brightly. “Nice to meet you female candidate Revina.”

All the stories her mother told said Dorasa was the weaker one, support to her brother, a key to be used or a gift giver. Yariel was the powerhouse.

He looked her over. “Please don’t look at my sister like that.”

“Like what?”

Revina had six older brothers, and while she cared for them all, couldn’t exactly say they were close enough that she’d choose them over a good, capable friend. She expected Yariel and Dorasa would be the same.

“Like she’s competition to be got rid of.”

Dorasa smiled up at them. “I think you’d better go female candidate Revina. You’re upsetting my brother.”

“But-”

“Please go.”

Didn’t she have him wrapped around her little finger? Well, that kind of thing wouldn’t stand in the Weyr. They’d see.

Kuyaran sat down with the two of them, while Revina returned to Sirena.

“Not what you were expecting?”

Revina smiled. “More than what I was expecting.”


	7. Yornam: Once Upon A December

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I do not own the Dragonriders of Pern or any related material. All rights belong to their rightful owners.

She was found in the crop field one morning, laid in a heap with several small bronze and blue fire-lizards clustered around her to keep her warm. There was nothing to say who she was or where she had come from. Her clothes were tattered rags, strategically covering only her necessary parts, and her long hair was tangled with mud and plants. The farmer’s daughter who found her called for her father and woke her. “Hello. My name’s Rasia. What’s yours?”

She stared at her with slightly too large eyes the colour of the morning sun.

“You’re asleep on my father’s farm. Are you okay?”

“Yoo ookay?”

“I’m more worried about you. What’s your name?”

“Yornam.”

“Is that your name?”

“Yornam.”

Her father strode across the field. “What’s all this then?”

“I think she’s hurt.”

“Aye, that’s what they all say.” He grabbed at the girl’s arm. She shuffled away. He grabbed her and yanked her to her feet. “What’s your game then?”

“Father! She could be hurt!”

“Hurt? She’s trespassing is what she’s doing!”

“But father! Look at her!”

She stared at them with those slightly too large golden eyes. In some places what they could see of her golden skin was marked by bruises and deep scratches.

“We can’t leave her out here like this. Thread’s due in a few hours.”

Her father sighed. “Fine. Bring her inside. Mebe she can make herself useful.”

Rasia led her into the house and gave her a hunk of bread and butter, which she only stared at. “It’s food. It’s for eating.”

Yornam frowned. “Eetin.”

“Yes. Like-” Rasia mimed eating the bread. Cautiously, Yornam took a bite. She smiled and nodded.

“Eetin.”

Once she had finished, Rasia showed her into the bathing room and brought her some clothing. Yornam stared at the wooden tub as if she didn’t know what to do. Rasia had to help her bathe like she did her youngest brother, Sidan, who was only four. Her skin was crusted with weeks worth of dirt, but underneath it was a deep bronze, almost golden colour, and it took almost an hour to wash the filth from her hair. It turned out the brown colour had only been from the dirt and underneath her hair was a beautiful combination of green, blue, brown, bronze and gold, striped through from the roots.

Rasia wondered if it was dyed.

“So where are you from?” she asked.

“Yafrom.”

“I’ve never heard of that. Is that your family?”

“Famlee.”

Rasia frowned. “Can you… actually talk?”

“Tawk.”

That was a no.

They asked around at the Hold, and put out messages through the Healing Hall, but no one seemed to be missing her. In the meantime, she stayed with them. Rasia taught her to talk, which she picked up quickly, and she was good at helping with the housework and little ones, which freed Rasia to work on the farm with her father. The children loved her fire-lizards, of which she seemed to have between eight and fifteen of varying colours, including one that Rasia caught a glimpse of and could have sworn was white, and at least one queen.

It helped that she was pretty hot too.

Yornam had been with them nearly a full turn when two dragons swooped overhead and came down for a neat landing. The children squealed in excitement and charged out to see with Yornam close behind.

“Hello?” Yornam asked, gathering the six children around her.

“Good afternoon. I am G’ron, rider of bronze Daserenth. This is K’ret, rider of blue Nasaroth.”

“Nice to meet you,” Yornam said like Rasia had taught her. Dasian sighed at her numbness.

“How can we help you Riders? Would you like some refreshments?”

“That would be nice.”

Dasian sent the next oldest children, who were twins, off to fetch bread and klah for the dragonriders as Rasia and her father arrived in from the fields.

“Riders. Can we help?”

“We ride on Search. My dragon, Daserenth, felt a very strong presence here.” He gazed at Yornam’s beauty. “And I believe we have found it.”

Yornam only stared at them with her large gold eyes.

“What is your name?”

“Yornam.”

“Well Yornam, you have the opportunity to stand for a dragon at Sunspyre weyr. The decision is yours.”

The twins returned with klah and bread, which the dragonriders took gratefully. Yornam looked to Rasia for an explanation. “I don’t understand.”

“Do you remember what I’ve taught you about the dragonriders?”

“Yes.”

“They want you to try and become a dragonrider.”

“I can do that?”

“It’s up to you.”

Her fire-lizards fluttered around her, cheeping encouragement. Yornam scratched the head of a bronze. “I will go. I don’t belong here anyway.”

“That’s not true! You’ll always have a home here, we all love you!” Especially her, although Rasia would never say that of course.

“Thank you.”

“Your children have the capacity to attract a dragon too. The smaller ones are too young, but the oldest two could stand if they wished.”

Rasia and Dasian looked to their father.

“The decision is yours.”

“If we both go, how will father care for the farm and the little ones?” Rasia asked her brother.

“You go,” Dasian replied.

“What? No, you have a better chance of impression. There’s only one egg I can stand for.” And she wouldn’t want to anyway.

“Sunspyre puts girls to green you know. Besides, I could always stand when I’m older and the little ones can care for themselves. You’d have to wait for another gold egg.”

Rasia smiled and pulled him tight into a hug. “Thank you.” She turned to the dragonriders. “I would like to stand as a candidate.”

Dasian stepped back to his father’s side. “I will remain here. My father will need the help on the farm.”

“Very well. You may have some time to pack and say goodbye.”

Rasia packed a few dresses and toiletries for them both and said her goodbyes to her family. “It’s not forever. We’ll see each other again.”

Dasian wrapped his arms tight around her. “Good luck.”

And so it was that Yornam (and Rasia) set off to the Weyr in hopes of impressing a dragon (and just maybe, finding love).


	8. Naeressa: Miracle

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I do not own the Dragonriders of Pern or any related content. All rights belong to their rightful owners.

As the sun rose over the hills, a young woman sat upon an impossible to reach rock ledge and gazed out across the land with luminous pink eyes.

It had been thirteen years, nearly to the day.

Thirteen years since her life ended.

_…mysterious flashback to thirteen years ago time…_

Five year old Naeressa was a perfectly ordinary little girl, thank you very much, with straw coloured brown hair and mud coloured brown eyes. There was nothing extraordinary about her whatsoever. She was a sensible child who liked to have fun, yet never broke her parents’ rules, which was perhaps a little unusual for a child, but there will always be well behaved children just as there will be naughty ones. She lived in a small cothold with her parents, her three older siblings and one younger brother. Their parents were simple ovine farmers, and one day their children would marry and become simple ovine farmers too, as would their children after them.

It was the way of the world.

That day, five year old Naeressa, who was completely normal and uninteresting, was helping her older sister, who has no other purpose in this story than to exist and be a future source of angst, make lunch for their parents and brothers who were out farming the ovines, as ovine farmers do. One moment she was cutting up the bread with a blunt knife, because she was a very normal child who would probably cut herself on a sharp one, and the next moment the entire cothold was flattened!

Go back one moment, as Naeressa often has over the years.

_…mysterious flashback to three seconds ago…_

From inside the cothold, Naeressa and her sister couldn’t see the danger approaching, because there were no windows and they were too busy cooking. But from outside, her family could see it from the fields where they were herding the ovines as they did day in day out every day.

A huge, rainbow coloured comet was falling from the sky.

And it was falling towards their croft.

Naeressa’s mother thought about her daughters.

Naeressa’s father thought about his croft, which had been owned by his father before him, and his father before him.

Both of them screamed.

The comet fell on the croft and exploded in a huge burst of light.

_…mysterious flashforward to three seconds later…_

The comet left behind only rubble and burning ash.

Five year old Naeressa, who had only a moment ago been a perfectly ordinary little girl, thank you very much, was in a lot of pain, and she couldn’t see her sister anywhere. She wailed for her mummy, which didn’t really help given the circumstances. Coughing and choking on the ash and dust she stumbled through the remains of the croft as fast as her little legs could, pushing large chunks of stone from her path as best her little hands could.

At last she fell out into the open air and collapsed upon the ground.

When her parents returned to the croft they found it had been obliterated, leaving only a smoking crater in the ground. Naeressa laid upon the ground. Her hair had all been burnt away and her skin had an odd rainbow shimmer to it when the sun hit. Her mother dropped to her knees and scooped the child up in her arms, while her father dropped to his knees and gaped at the remains of his croft.

_…end mysterious flashback time…_

Never again would Naeressa be an ordinary little girl.

Her parents knew that as soon as she opened her eyes at the Healer’s Hall and instead of her normal mud brown they were a glowing, luminescent pink. The Healers said it might fade but it never did. Nor did her hair, which grew back the colours of the rainbow and so shiny one could see their reflection in it on a bright day

They would never find the body of her sister, who had, presumably, been disintegrated upon impact of the comet.

Such were the origins of Naeressa’s curse.

Her parents worked hard to build a new croft. Naeressa surprised everyone by picking up a sack of stone with one hand and carrying it over to her parents when her brother complained it was too heavy. When it grew cold and the ground was hard with frost, Naeressa glowed with warmth and formed small flames in her hands to keep her brothers warm. When she tripped over a branch, because she was still a five year old girl, if an extraordinary one, she fell not on the ground but instead floated there above it.

Her parents cautioned her that she mustn’t use her gifts in public or where anyone could see, but Naeressa was a bold, kind, and heroic girl, and when she saw a farmer’s son tumble through the ice one cold winter’s morning she wasted no time in diving after him to pull him out, leaving him on the shore for his friends to find and vanishing into the timber.

Thus was her legend born.

As the years went by Naeressa grew into a tall, slender girl with well defined muscles and a fit figure. Her rainbow coloured hair fell to her ankles and her glowing pink orbs shone brightly in her face. Even the plain dresses she wore over the more practical plain trews and tunics she preferred die nothing to hide her beauty. She protected the local lands with a fierce devotion, saving folk from flooding and fires and ovines. She left her home and brothers behind when she was only fifteen, seeking refuge in the wild so she could better protect people. She built her own cave in the cliff she sat on now, filling it carefully with only the things she needed to survive. For three years the only people she saw were those she helped and saved – and the boy.

He was the first she ever saved, a farmer’s son with soft chestnut hair, sparkling blue eyes and a musical voice. Every day he would walk up and down by the river, singing, and search for her.

Naeressa watched him.

Sometimes she let him see her then darted away into the shadows and darkness.

This day was different.

This day he hadn’t come, the first time in years, and she saw dragons fly over the cliff as the son reached its peak. She watched them soar towards the cothold.

Naeressa lived to help people, and wasn’t that what dragonriders did?

Quickly she changed into a simple looking dress and pulled on a cloak to hide her rainbow coloured hair before flying up the cliff and racing towards the cothold.

She landed a little way outside and joined those hustling and bustling around, eager to see the dragons. Naeressa was quick as a flash, darting between them to enter the Hold and push her way to those trying to see the dragonriders. Many were clearly too young or too old, children or young adults outside the age of candidacy, though the riders had chosen two boys, a small one with brownish hair and her musical boy from the river.

One of the riders gazed at her. “You,” he said. “What is your name?”

“Naeressa, bronze rider,” she said shyly, for he was the first person she had spoken to in many years.

“A beautiful name for a beautiful lady. Naeressa, the dragons have chosen you. Would you like to come away with us and stand as a candidate?”

Naeressa’s smile outshone the sun. “Oh yes sir, I would very much!”

And so it was that Naeressa set off with the riders to the Weyr in hopes of a new baby dragon and a new way of helping people.


	9. Ritilia: Practically Perfect

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I do not own the Dragonriders of Pern.

She had hoped Jakeiria might have been a little more polite and respectful now they were here at the Weyr, but no. Her older sister was worse than ever, bragging about how she would impress gold – in front of a Queenrider’s daughter no less – and stomping off when challenged.

Ritilia was pretty sure she was the only one that noticed she hadn’t returned to the girls’ barracks by the time they retired to bed.

It had been a long, exciting day and she fell asleep the moment her head hit the pillow. She dreamt of flying dragonback without noticing the colour of the wings.

Sirena woke them much, much too early the following morning. “Up! Everyone up! Wear trews and be out here in ten minutes! Chop chop!”

Ritilia groaned, rubbed sleep from her eyes, and pushed herself out of the bed. In the other bed Annaliessa was doing the same. Ritilia had spent days in, days out, working her family’s farm. It was hard, simple work, and she was used to getting up early. She dressed quickly and hurried out to join Sirena, Annaliessa close behind. Still, only Jakeiria and Tummi were behind her. When they didn’t appear from their rooms, Sirena went and banged on the doors. Jakeiria wasn’t in hers, while Tummi groaned and asked for five more minutes. Sirena tipped a jug of water over her head and told her she had one, to get out of bed and dressed.

She just managed to do so before a tall rider with grey hair entered and shouted for them to line up.

“Shouldn’t there be one more of you?”

“Jakeiria isn’t in her room candidate master,” replied Sirena.

“Hmph. The rest of you give me your names.”

They did so.

“Remember each other’s. If you’re lucky, then in five weeks these girls will be your fellow Weyrlings, riders, comrades, and even lovers.”

Ritilia blushed scarlet.

“I am D’vran, the candidate master. We’ll be starting lessons tomorrow, when I should have most of you, but today you shall be exercising and performing duties around the Weyr. Follow me, we’ll start with the morning run.”

A little bewildered, Ritilia obediently followed on behind the other girls. D’vran set them to run fifteen laps of the Weyrbowl. Only Tummi was behind her for the entire run. Dorasa sprang easily ahead, bounding over the ground with strong, athletic legs, lapping her and Tummi twice. Sirena and Kuyaran were a little way behind her, matching pace and apparently talking, while Revina was just behind them, with Annaliessa behind her.

Ritilia didn’t know how anyone could be so good at running fifteen long laps without tiring, but Dorasa seemed to be barely out of breath, performing push ups as she waited for them to finish.

Damn, she was so annoyingly perfect!

At least she wasn’t the only one glaring at her. Revina was doing the same.

She and Tummi were the last to finish, with the boys coming out just before they did. One of them gave her a sharp whistle. She blushed scarlet. D’vran took them out of sight to do a series of sit ups and push ups.

“Not bad,” he said when they all (except Dorasa of course, she was too busy being perfect) laid on the ground panting.

“We’ve had worse. Go and get yourself cleaned up and report to the kitchens to help with breakfast.”

“Yes candidate master sir!”

Dorasa’s hair was even perfect right after she’d washed it.

Fuck her.

You know who else was annoyingly perfect?

Annaliessa.

When she wasn’t asking questions or commenting on the most obvious of things, like glow torches and plates of course.

“I get my own bowl?” she said when handed one at breakfast. The Headwoman just gave her a funny look.

Really though, she was beautiful, well proportioned if a little small considering she clearly hadn’t been fed very well, and evidently intelligent.

Ritilia sighed.

There were so many candidates better than her already. What chance did she have at any dragon?

She told herself not to think like that as she ate her porridge. There were seventy one eggs, seventy one hatchlings. Surely one would be hers? And even if they weren’t, she could stand again if she didn’t impress.

At least she had to have a better chance than Jakeiria.

The next female candidates to arrive were sixteen year olds Rasia and Yornam. Rasia was a merry looking girl with brown hair mussed in all directions, glittering hazel eyes, and a smattering of freckles over a tanned face. She wore clothes of a similar style to Ritilia’s own, simple and hardwearing. A cotholder’s daughter, Ritilia thought, or a farmer’s child. Yornam, however, was another beauty. Her skin was a soft golden colour, while her eyes, which looked slightly too large for her face, were a more vibrant gold colour. Her hair was stripped gold, bronze, brown, blue and green, falling to her waist and secured back in a thick plait. A queen firelizard was curled around her waist, and another that looked purple when the light hit it sat upon her shoulder.

“Are you here for the Queens, or just the hatching in general?” Sirena asked.

“I… don’t really know,” Rasia said. The look in Yornam’s eyes said she hadn’t even understood the question. Sirena nodded.

“You won’t be the only ones, and there’s time to decide yet. Remember as well, if a dragon decides it wants you, it’ll find you no matter where you are on the sands. Not being in the ring for the Queens won’t lessen your chances.”

Rasia blinked. “Queens?”

“Ah,” said Sirena. “They didn’t tell you?”

“No.”

Sirena explained as she handed the two girls vegetables to chop.

“Is that dangerous?” Rasia asked.

“It’s trickier than a normal hatching, but so long as the candidates stay calm and do what we’re meant to the riders will have it uner control.”

They continued to talk as they prepared the meal. Yornam, they learnt from Rasia, had no memory of her past and couldn’t speak very well. She also had a whole fair of firelizards, as proven by the fact her Queen had switched out for a bronze and a third, a brown that looked more red, had appeared and perched on her head. Rasia said she was sure there was at least eight of them but she wasn’t sure on the exact number.

“You don’t remember… anything about who you are?”

“No,” said Yornam.

“But how can you not know?”

Yornam shrugged. “I was born running. Then Rasia was there.”

Sirena rubbed at her head. “You can’t possibly have been _born running._ There must have been something before that.”

Yornam shrugged. “There was more running.”

Ritilia stifled a laugh.

Yornam was an odd one, but at least she had something warm about her.

The same could not be said about the next two candidates to arrive.

Cataeliana and Ketielean were fraternal twins and looked so alike that the rider who brought and introduced them simply handed them both over to Sirena because he’d lost track of which one was the girl. Both had a sharp, harsh beauty to them, with skin pale as the snow, hard violet eyes, and white hair cut short at their chins, and both wore neat blue smocks with brown trews and tightly laced black boots. They had no luggage or trunks, only battered, ragged looking knapsacks slung over their backs. Sirena directed the other female candidates to refill the glow baskets and help the women in the lower caverns while she took the two to sort them out.

She returned with them both, now minus knapsacks, a short while later, and set them to sweeping. Ritilia had only been here a day and was already learning there was sand everywhere in this Weyr.

“So,” Annaliessa said, and from the corner of her eye Ritilia saw Sirena desperately shaking her head at her. “Where are you two from?”

“Idwik,” said the pair as one.

“You like it there?”

“No.”

“I guess that’s why you’re here. I’m Annaliessa.”

“You’re noisy,” said one of them.

“You’re quiet.”

“We like quiet,” said the one that hadn’t spoken earlier. Everyone who wasn’t Annaliessa could see that. Ritilia edged over to Sirena as they worked (and, in Annaliessa’s case, talked).

“Which one’s the girl?” she whispered.

“I don’t know; I’ve lost track.”

It became very apparent over the remainder of the morning that Cataeliana and Ketielean preferred each other’s company and would rather be left alone.

Ritilia was perfectly happy to do so.

Those two made her very uncomfortable.

Jakeiria reappeared for the lunchtime meal. Sirena approached her. “Where have you been?”

“None of your business.”

“Not if you don’t want to tell me, no, but it is the candidate master’s, and he will be asking.”

Jakeiria turned her nose up. “Oh, what business is it of his? I’m a future Queen rider; when I have my dragon he’ll be beneath me.”

“You don’t have a dragon yet Jakeiria, and the candidate master is your direct superior.”

“Not for long,” Jakeiria snapped. “And it won’t matter when I have my Queen.”

_My Queen._ Ritilia would give her heart for a dragon of any colour, but there was only one colour Jakeira would settle for.

Sirena said they could have a break for the afternoon, but they would be expected to help after supper with clearing and washing the dishes for the following days. Ritilia returned to her chambers to take a nap. She ached all over, despite her fitness from working the farm. And this was only day one!

A commotion outside woke her. Ritilia stumbled from her bed and opened the door to see what was happening.

In the common room, Sirena and Kuyaran were facing a tall, dark haired girl, who had a blonde haired toddler balanced against her hip.

“But J’kes promised I could keep Solaris with me,” the younger girl was saying.

“Look, I don’t know what J’kes told you, but the candidate barracks are no place for a toddler.”

“I told you, make one exception and they’ll all want one. Now look,” said Kuyaran before sweeping off. Sirena sighed.

“Look- What’s your name?”

“Indigo.”

“Indigo. Solaris can stay at the Weyr, of course she can. Just not here.”

“She stays with me.”

“Children her age are fostered down in the lower caverns. Drop your stuff off here and I can take you down. I’m sure there’ll be someone there willing to take her in.”

“I don’t have anything to drop off, and either she stays with me or our brother and we are leaving.”

“Look, I’m sorry, but she can’t stay here! You won’t have time to care for her, and especially not if you impress.”

“I don’t need to care for her; she can look after herself. And where I go, she goes.”

Sirena sighed heavily. “I’m probably going to regret asking this, but why?”

“Something bad always happens when we’re separated.” She gazed down at the toddler – more of a child really, kind of in that halfway stage – with large pale eyes.

“And she won’t take up much room! We won’t even need another bed!”

Sirena groaned. “I’ll speak to the Candidate Master. But I can tell you now if you do impress Weyrling Master F’drom won’t stand for it.”

“Thank you.”

Ritilia crept out after Sirena had left and the new girl had settled on one of the armchairs with the toddler in her lap. “Um. Hi.”

The girl jumped and half pulled something from her pocket as she turned to face her. “Fardles, where did you come from?”

Ritilia blushed. “My sleeping chambers. Sorry, did I scare you?”

“Rather.”

Ritilia edged closer and sat on the next nearest armchair. “I’m Ritilia.”

“Indigo. This is Solaris.”

“Nice to meet you. Where are you from?”

Indigo shrugged. “Baulin Hold originally, but that was destroyed, and we’re kinda travelling tinkers now. Or we were at least.” She glanced down at the toddler. “Hopefully it’ll change now.”

“Saf,” said the toddler.

“Yeah Sol, Saf. So how about you Ritilia? Where are you from?”

“Oh, just a small farming cot. It’s nothing special.”

Sirena returned at that point, with D’vran in tow. He took over, and Ritilia wasn’t sure what went down between him and Indigo, but evidently a deal was struck because she moved into one of the sleeping chambers – with Solaris.

The next girl to arrive was Tardreella, who was brought in by a very good looking bronze rider. She too was a beautiful girl – was it the dragons being drawn to beauty or the riders – with very softly tanned skin, long shining golden blonde hair, and mismatched eyes, one sparkling blue, the other soft green. She glanced around the common room.

“Are the eggs hatching?”

Sirena blinked. “What?”

“The eggs,” Tardreela said slowly as though talking to a child or an idiot. “Are they hatching?”

Kuyaran lifted her head to stare at her as though trying to work out whether she was for real.

“… no.”

“So the hatching’s tomorrow then. Oh dear, never mind. I’ll just have to spend the night tossing and turning trying to sleep and dreaming of dragons.”

“… the hatching’s not tomorrow.”

Tardreela stared at Sirena. “It’s not?”

“No.”

“Why not?”

“Because… it’s not?”

“But I’m here.”

“Yes, and?”

“I thought all important Queen candidates who impressed were brought in in a rush the night or just moments before the hatching.”

“Yeah, they do it like that at Benden and Ista, but here at Sunspyre candidates have to be here at least a week in advance to get used to things.”

Tardreela gaped at her. “So I have to wait a week to see my dragon? That’s not fair; it’s too long.”

“Then that’s too bad, because it’s actually roughly five weeks. Here, this is your sleeping chamber.”

She would be sharing with Jakeiria. They rather deserved each other.

“Five weeks?” Tardreela protested in a high pitched yet musical voice. “I must be needed to save the Weyr from some great tragedy before the Hatching.”

“Yeah, something like that,” Sirena agreed.

The last girl to arrive that day was Naeressa, who was brought into the hall as most of the Weyr at supper. It fell silent. The girl was beautiful, that much was undeniable. Her skin was tanned a deep bronze colour that shone under the glows. Her face was heart shaped, with a button nose, full lips, and large, glowing pink eyes. She wore a plain dress, but it couldn’t disguise her ample bosom nor her athletic figure.

Then there was her hair.

Her hair which was all the colours of the rainbow, tumbling in shining waves to her ankles.

Her Search rider led her over to sit with the Weyrleaders. Kuyaran sneered. “Making a spectacle of herself. Who does she think she is?”

Tardreela giggled. “Careful Kuyaran. You’re going to become the bitter hater of the story.”

Kuyaran glared at her. “Sirena, I will take anyone except her and Little Miss Rainbow over there as my roommate.”

Ritilia plainly saw the smile Sirena tried to hide behind her hand.

Naeressa took an instant dislike to Yornam the moment she saw her in the common room.

No…

Dislike is too gentle a word.

Absolute loathing.

Naeressa took instant Absolute loathing to Yornam the moment she saw her in the common room.

Poor Yornam just looked confused.


	10. Luna: Quiet

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I do not own the Dragonriders of Pern.

The stars were alive the night Luna was born.

They shone bright and fierce, and one star in particular shone brightest and fiercest.

It was all colours of the rainbow, red, orange, yellow, green, blue, pink, indigo, and pulsated in the sky like a great coloured blob. Those of the tiny cothold cowered in their stone crofts as it hung above them like a bad omen.

All but two.

Tradenna, wife of the late Corvus, gave birth that night. There was no midwife or Healer in attendance, only her good-sister Thaitea who had three sons of her own.

Luna would be born when the cursed star was at its brightest, streaking overhead above the village.

She was different from that moment on.

Her hair was a bright, shining silver, a beacon of light on a dark night. Her skin was pale as the snow and never tanned nor marked. Her eyes were large, round, and shone like the stars. She held an ethereal kind of beauty, look but don’t touch.

Her mother loved her dearly, but she was an odd child.

She was never like other children. While they tottered about on chubby legs, she was already a slender child who could glide from one handhold to another. It almost looked like her feet never touched the floor. While they played with toys and dolls and wooden figures and soft balls, she would rather watch or gaze mysteriously into the middle distance. While they attended lessons, she could already read and write and would rather do some more mysterious gazing, especially if it was raining or near sunset.

Sometimes she dreamt she had an older sister, a beautiful girl with scarlet red curls. They grew together in her dreams, laughed and played together sometimes in places she knew and sometimes in places she didn’t.

As a young child, she asked her mother ‘mother, will I one day have a sister?”

“Perhaps, but probably not. I’m growing older now, and I have no husband any more.”

Luna gazed at her with those eyes like the stars. “I had a sister once. She went away, but we will meet again.”

Her mother went very, very pale. “Get out.”

Luna would never fit in with the other children either. They never invited her to their conversations, nor their games or parties (though who could really blame them when her favourite pastime seemed to be predicting when people would die with a frightening accuracy?). As they grew older though they became hostile, and would bully her, pushing her in the mud and attacking her with sticks.

Nevertheless, accidents that should have been fatal seemed to be less so when Luna was there, such as a girl who slipped over the edge of a ravine landing at the bottom with only a scratch to show for it and a pack of savage canines who happened upon the children turning tail and fleeing.

She knew things about people too, thoughts and feelings and secrets that should never be spoken or given to the light of day. Folk distrusted her even more for that, her uncanny way of simply _knowing._

When she was eleven her mother fell sick. Luna held her hand through the night and willed her to get better. Get better she did, though Luna herself grew sick that morning, and lay in a fever for many days, whispering about carts that drove themselves and pictures that moved and beasts bigger than dragons that flew through the sky.

Her mother would never truly recover, and when Luna was only thirteen, she fell sick again, sharp and sudden, and died within only a few days. Luna wept for the future she would never have.

Her funeral would be two days later. Few people attended.

The crofters came for Luna that night.

Without her mother she was vulnerable, and she knew their secrets.

Of course, knowing their secrets meant she already knew, and had packed a few sturdy belongings into a backpack before fleeing the cothold. Her future stretched out in front of her. She saw many, many paths, but she ran on the one that she knew was to be, and when the footsteps caught up with her she had no fear.

This was always to come.

When the hands seized her and the blows rained down she saw no anger in the people she once knew, only sadness and fear, and she herself had no fear.

This was always to come.

When her battered body tumbled over the edge of the bridge, she only closed her eyes and had no fear.

This was always to come.

Behind her eyes she saw red hair and a loving smile.

Luna held out her hand.


	11. Tardreela: It’s Goin’ Down

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I do not own the Dragonriders of Pern or any related content. All rights belong to their rightful owners.

They were woken up at an impossibly early hour considering the eggs still weren’t hatching.

It had to be some other emergency.

Tardreela sprang daintily from her bed, every lock of her perfect golden hair falling perfectly into place. Outside the room, that dreadful girl from the day before (what was her name again? Snorana? Scorna? Borina? oh, never mind) was shouting something about getting up and wearing trews (of all things, how was she meant to look delicately innocent in trews?) and being out there in ten minutes.

Tardreela reached for her fourth most beautiful and hard wearing dress, which she had laid out yesterday, and quickly pulled it on. Every crease dropped from the garment the moment the fabric touched her skin. She reached for her roommate’s shoulder. The girl had come back late last night in spite of Tardreela’s kind warnings, and was flopped out on her side, snoring gently.

“Jakeiria, wake up! We’re needed! It’s probably time for me to save the Weyr from tragedy.”

Jakeiria flapped a hand at her. “Five more minutes Riti.”

“It’s Tardreela! And it’s time to act; come on!”

Jakeiria sighed and rolled gracelessly from the bunk. Tardreela smiled sweetly. “I’ll meet you out there.”

She wasn’t the first up or out. How embarrassing was that? The future saviour of the Weyr not being the first on the case? She was amongst the first though, only the Weyrbred girls and the girl with rainbow hair whose name she couldn’t remember and probably didn’t matter were before her.

“What’s the emergency?” she asked. “Dragonriders injured in unexpected Thread? Egg thieves? The hatching cavern collapsing? A plague? An earthquake? A feline attack?”

The awful weyrbred girl (seriously, what was her name? Vapina?) stared at her.

“Oh, oh, I bet I know! Is it a tsunami? This is an island, so it has to be a tsunami!”

“What nonsense is she spewing?” muttered the girl with bronze hair. The redhead next to her shrugged.

“Fardles if I know.”

“There is no emergency,” said the blonde slowly.

“No emergency? But-”

“It’s just time for morning exercises.”

Two of the other girls, the pale one and the dark skinned one, appeared from their room.

“But it’s my first day here! There has to be some emergency!”

“If there is, it’s not now.”

One by one, the other candidates emerged from their rooms, until there was only her roommate, the chubby plain girl, and that red haired girl missing. The weyrbred girl who seemed to have put herself in charge (they’d see about that, obviously she would be in charge here) banged on their doors before shoving them open and shouting inside. The chubby girl emerged, a green firelizard on her shoulder, and took her place in line. “Why’ve we got to get up so early?”

Tardreela narrowed her eyes at the firelizard. How dare she have that out for show while she herself didn’t? Quickly, Tardreela summoned two of her own firelizards, queen Stella and onyx Midnight, to perch on her shoulder. The girl with ordinary brown hair (how could anyone bear that, so dull), whispered something to the one with the gold, bronze, brown, blue and green hair. She frowned and whispered something back before Tardreela could use her superior hearing to listen to what they were plotting. Three firelizards, a queen, a bronze, and a tiny white, appeared from between and perched on the girl’s shoulders and head. Tardreela stared. How dare she? She thought she could upstage her? Quickly, she summoned three more of her own firelizards, her second queen Starlight, garnet Ruby and lilac Lilac. The brown haired girl nudged her co-conspiracer. “It’s bothering her.”

Four more firelizards appeared, another queen, another bronze, a brown, and a blue with a bronze stripe, appeared and perched on the two girls.

Oh, it was _on_.

Tardreela summoned _five_ more of her own, including her third queen. The other girl summoned _six._ Tardreela summoned _seven_. The other girl summoned _eight._

By now she was out of places for her flits to perch, while some of the other girl’s were perching on her friend. How many did she have? It wasn’t fair! Quickly, Tardreela summoned her last three firelizards, pink and orange Apricot, yellow Dawn, and zebra striped Blacky, and ordered them to flit in and out a bit to make it hard to count.

Which was when the candidate master walked in of course.

He looked at them, and then at the firelizards darting happily about the room, and then back at them. “What is going on?” he boomed, his voice echoing through the room.

Unfortunately, that scared the firelizards, which all took to the air and began squawking and diving in panic around the room, and then there was nothing but firelizards while the candidates dove for cover.

Yes!

She had inadvertedly created her own emergency! How clever of her! Everyone should admire her skilz!

Tardreela held her arms out and clicked her tongue for her firelizards, reaching out to those that belonged to the other girl as well. Everyone would admire how well she solved this crisis-

Or at least they would have done, had one of the Queens not flown into her head, and then another three crashed into her legs, knocking her into a delicate and perfectly defendable heap.

“Girls!” shouted the candidate master. “Get these accursed lizards under control!”

The lizards squawked louder at his raised voice – and then dove and fluttered down to land on Cataeliana and Ketielean’s shoulders, head, and outstretched arms until the white haired twins could barely be seen under multi-coloured firelizards. Their arms trembled a little under the effort of holding them all. The numerous queens were hardly small or light after all.

“Right. Thank you,” said the candidate master.

“No problem,” said both twins.

“Who do all these firelizards belong to?”

The other girl raised her hand. The candidate master frowned. “They can’t all be yours.”

“No, most of them are mine,” said Tardeela primly. “I’m sorry candidate master, I think my firelizards must have gotten excited at seeing so many new ones.”

“Be sure that you work on training them.”

Training them? They were already perfectly behaved, and only needed for show! To prove her point, Tardreela dismissed her firelizards to wherever it was they spent their time when they weren’t with her. A little over a third of the lizards flashed between. Those remaining chirped a bit in surprise.

“Is there anyone that could help with training them?” the brown haired girl was asking. “See, Yornam already had all these when I found her, and it’s been enough work teaching her!”

“Kuyaran, could you?”

The bronze haired girl with a queen lizard lounging across her shoulders sighed heavily. “Yes, I suppose so. I’ll give you a hand girl. Don’t have much experience with so many though.”

One of the bronze lizards settled on her owner’s shoulder, while a blue sat on her friend’s. The rest began to flit _between_.

“Now that that’s sorted, let’s have you lined up girls.”

Even her lazy animal of a roommate couldn’t sleep through all the commotion and had slipped out while the girls were trying to deal with the numerous firelizards. They lined up in a neat row, with Tardreela pushed back from her proper place at the front.

“Hm. There’s one too few of you again. Where’s whatshername with the red hair?”

“Dorasa. She’s not in her room sir.”

“Right. The rest of you give me your names.”

(the weyrbred girl was called Sirena, and the one with all the firelizards was Yornam. Tardreela made a note of it)

“For those who weren’t here yesterday, I am D’vran, the candidate master. We’ll be starting lessons this morning, after breakfast, and before breakfast you’ve got exercises to run. Follow me, let’s go!”

Exercises? _Exercises?_ What did she need _exercises_ for, she was already perfect!

“Excuse me?” she called. D’vran glanced at her.

“Yes?”

“Am I not exempt from exercises? I mean, look at me. I’m already fit.”

“If you can’t exercise, you shouldn’t be here. Let’s go.”

Yornam still had that firelizard on her shoulder and Tardreela summoned Stella back to perch on hers. See? Her firelizards were perfectly trained!

They followed the candidate master out to the weyrbowl, where they found Whatshername, their missing candidate. Or at least, they saw her silhouette. She was at the other side of the bowl, atop the highest edge, sparring with another figure, outlined in the rising sun.

“Woah,” said the dark skinned girl as the two opponents spun round and round each other, their blades flashing in the sun. It wasn’t that impressive really, Tardreela was sure she could do better. After all, she was perfect at everything she tried.

“He will kill her!” shouted Rainbow Hair. “He must be stopped!” She leapt into the air and shot towards the two. The candidate master stared after her. Whatshername and Whoever Was With Her sprang apart and raised their blades as Rainbow Hair approached them.

“I think this is our new normal now,” muttered the weyrbred girl (Serina? Sorena?) as she jogged towards the three, the other two weyrbred girls at her heels. The candidate master and other girls trailed behind.

Rainbow Hair had actually tried to attack Whoever Was With Whatshername, using hands glowing red with flame, and he (Tardreela could see it was a he with her perfect eyesight as she got closer) was fending her off with the sword, which now glowed like the sun, as did his eyes. Whatshername fought at his side, her weapon shining silver, along with her eyes.

“Naeressa!” shouted Weyrgirl (she was calling her Weyrgirl from now on, it was so much easier). “Dorasa! Yariel! Stop that at once!”

The three of them broke apart, eyeing each other warily. Tardreela pushed her way to the front, ready to jump in with her superior peacemaking skilz, but of course Weyrgirl had to go wading in to interfere.

“He was attacking her, you all saw!” protested Rainbow Hair.

“We were sparring you- you wherryhead!” Whoever Was With Her shouted back, his eyes still glowing. Tardreela needed to do that, it looked cool.

“You would kill her!”

“We were having fun!”

Weyrgirl sighed. “Yariel, Dorasa, put the swords away. Naeressa, put the… fire away. There is to be absolutely no killing each other. It’s time for exercises.”

Rainbow Hair glared at Whatshername and Whoever Was With Her as she returned to the other girls, who edged away from her. “I’m watching you Evil One.”

“Wherryhead,” muttered Whoever Was With Her.

Whatshername stepped a little way down the slope and curtsied to the candidate master. “Am I late for exercises? I’m sorry candidate master, we must have gotten carried away. It won’t happen again.”

The candidate master only gaped at her.

“Make sure it doesn’t,” said Weyrgirl. “D’vran, exercises?”

He gaped at her too.

“Oh dear,” drawled Bronze Hair. “I think you three broke him.”

“Right then. Fifteen laps around the bowl, hop to it girls.”

“Hold on, who put you in charge?” asked Jakeiria.

“I am the Senior Girl, and I know exactly what he’d have us do. Fifteen laps around the bowl. And then fifteen situps and fifteen pushups when you finish. Sooner you finish the sooner you get to bathe and eat. It’s normally twenty for the boys if you want to join us Yariel.”

He smiled. “I’d love to, thank you Sirena.”

_Sirena!_ That was it!

Fifteen laps wasn’t even that hard. Tardreela ran it in twelve minutes, finishing first without a drop of sweat on her perfect alabaster skin. She completed the other exercises easily too of course, all with Stella still perched on her shoulder. Such was her perfection.

Whatshername and the boy were amongst those who finished first of the other candidates. Tardreela siddled over to him. “Yariel,” she said sweetly, even remembering his name despite his unimportance. He glanced at her.

“Yes?”

“Do you think you could – spar – with me?”

He raised an eyebrow. “Can you fight?”

“I’m a fast learner.”

“No.”

“But you must! Look, we can use these conveniently placed sticks!” She picked up two perfectly sized and placed sticks from the otherwise treeless land and brought them over to him. “Come on!”

“No thank you.” He got to his feet and held his arm out for Whatshername. “Let’s go bathe.”

Tardreela saw red.

How could he ignore her?!

Her!

She was more beautiful than- than _that_ , and more beautiful, and speshul, and precious!

How dare he!

_How dare he?!_

This was Whatshername’s fault! She was addling his brain, clearly! Once she was out the way, he’d have to see her perfection!

She hit Whatshername with the stick.

It was a bad move.

1000%

Yeriel spun to face her, his eyes glowing gold, and attempted to punch her in her perfect face. Luckily, Tardreela was quick and fit, and darted effortlessly aside.

“Never touch my sister!” he roared, and the sound was inside her head, filling the air like thunder.

“She doesn’t deserve your protection! Look at her!”

Standing there with glowing eyes instead of meekly waiting to be rescued like a decorative object. What was she thinking? Ugh! Tardreela summoned some of her numerous firelizards to claw and scratch at the girl, who was forced to divert from the fight in order to fend them off.

Yes! Yiroel’s attention was hers! Hers alone!

“She has been by my side longer than anyone!”

“Oh come, you wouldn’t really choose her over all this, would you?” Tardreela asked, leading him away across the slope. Obviously once they got to the edge they would share a passionate and fiery kiss.

“Every time!” he bellowed. Above them, the sun seemed to shine brighter. Tardreela frowned and summoned more firelizards to attack the other girl. He couldn’t possibly want her once she was all scratched up and ugly.

“Call those damn lizards off!”

Tardreela fluttered her eyelashes at him. “Why don’t you make me big boy?”

Yoruil drew his sword. It struck Tardreela then.

Of course! This must be what she was here for! This was the Emergency; her destiny!

“Yuraol, listen to me! She is corrupting your mind! I am here to save you!”

He swung at her with the sword. That bitch must have better corrupting powers than she thought. Skilfully, Tardreela caught the blow on her stick using her newly found swordfighting skilz and darted to the side.

Yareul lunged at her suddenly, grabbing for her hand. Tardreela sprang back with a shy smile. She knew he’d never be able to resist her charms.

Her foot slipped.

See, Tardreela had failed to account for one thing.

The cliff.

She slipped, rather gracefully and perfectly, backwards into the open air. Her numerous beloved firelizards dove after her, trying desperately to catch her or slow her fall, but her perfect gold hair refused to catch or tangle, slipping through their talons and settling perfectly back into a halo around her perfect face as she fell, and her soft skin slipped from their hold.

“Avenge me,” she screamed as she fell.

Yariel sheathed his sword. “Crazy bitch.”

Sirena raced over the cliff edge, quickly followed by the girl with the rainbow hair. “What happened?”

“She fell.”

At the bottom, her broken body lay perfectly across some conveniently placed jagged rocks. Yariel glanced at the other girls who were now gathering around Dorasa. “You all saw that, right? She fell.”

They nodded in agreement.

The candidate master continued to gape.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As you might be able to tell, I had far too much fun writing this chapter, and it remains one of my favourites in the entire thing


	12. Ellador: A Dream is a wish your heart makes

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I do not own the Dragonriders of Pern or any related content. All rights belong to their rightful owners.

Once Upon A Time, on a planet and in a land far far away, there lived a beautiful young girl. Her hair was a beautiful and brilliant golden blonde, so bright bronze firelizards sometimes mistook it for a queen in flight, her eyes were as clear and blue as the sky on a summer's day, her lips were a perfect pale pink, like a newly blossomed flower, and her skin was as white as snow.

Even greater than this fair maiden's beauty however, was her delicate, gentle, and kind nature. She was sweet and loving, treating everything with delicate respect; she had not a bit of vice in her; and she tasted everything from the smallest of mice to the nearest of people with polite and tender kindness.

She also had a wonderful singing voice that could charm the birds from the trees and calm even the angriest of angry runners.

Her name was Ellador.

Unfortunately, because the world is never fair, this great and kind beauty had known great hardships and unhappiness in her short life. Her mother had died when she was only an hour old, and her father, believing his daughter needed a mother to look up to, remarried a Ranking lady with two young daughters of her own. His new wife was cruel, hateful, and spiteful, a word which here means cruel and hateful. She favoured her own daughters, and treated Ellador poorly, but only when her father, who was often away, was unable to see (which was often).

Then one day, a terrible disaster stuck.

Ellador's father, who was often away trading, died when a great tree fell on his cart.

From that day on Ellador was expected to be her stepmother's drudge. Her stepsisters got fine clothes, but Ellador was dresses in rags. Her stepsisters got good food, but Ellador was given only scraps from the leftovers. Her stepsisters could laze around all day, but Ellador was forced to take care of the housework and animals.

To keep her spirits high, she sang as she did so, charming all around her (except her mean stepmother and sisters). Her only friends were the sun, the moons, the stars, and the four firelizards she impressed one day when she was out picking flowers.

"It doesn't matter that my family hates me and I have no other friends. At least I have you four, and you love me," she would say and her firelizards would cheep lovingly.

One day there came a notice from the Weyr.

"There are dragonriders coming here tomorrow on search!" cried her wicked stepmother. "They have a queen egg on the sands and want us to present all girls of age between sixteen and twenty one. You shall be taken to the Weyr and one of you shall impress it!"

"Oh, we shall need dresses," said the older of the sisters, a tall, thin girl with ugly brown hair and eyes.

"And jewellery," said the younger, who was shorter with wide hips and a pouty face.

"And shoes."

"And perfume."

"May I have the evening free?" Ellador asked quietly.

"Whatever for?"

"I would like to repair my dress before the dragonriders come."

"You? Meet the dragonriders? Don't make me laugh. Now, help the girls prepare. There is a lot to do."

Ellador sighed sadly. "Yes Lady Teroune."

Ellador's stepsisters kept her so busy that evening tailoring dresses, helping them bathe and putting their hair in curlers that she fell asleep in the parlour that night, crying in the embers of the fire. Her four beloved firelizards huddled around her and offered their comfort.

"If only I could just see the dragons, I would be happy," Ellador cried. Her firelizards chirped and trilled.

"Oh, it's at times like this I miss my dear departed parents so much. My father, he wanted nothing but to see me happy, and my mother, I remember how she smiled as she wasn't me a lullaby and set me abed. Oh, I miss them so!"

In the morning, her stepsisters were dressed up to look fine (Ellador thought they looked like pigs in dresses, but she was too sweet and good to make comment on it). They left early to travel to the main Hold and be presented to the dragonriders. Ellador watched them leave with a sigh.

"Oh, if only I could see the dragons. How wonderful they must be!"

She tried to distract herself by closing all the curtains and oiling her beloved firelizards. "I would like to see them, just once."

Her firelizards peeped crossly. They thought it most unfair that Ellador could not achieve her desire to see their bigger cousins.

So distracted was she by her misery and also by her oiling her firelizards she didn't know she had a visitor until the banging on the door stayed. Her stepmother had fired all the staff long ago and so she was the only one home.

"Oh my! I wonder who that could be!"

Ellador hurried down to open the door. Outside she found a glowing blue dragon in the yard and a tall, handsome man on the doorstep. Ellador blushed. "Can I help you?"

"Charminth and I were looking for the source of power we felt here. I think I found it."

Ellador blushed more.

"I am P'nir, and this is Charminth. You have great power in you. Would you like to come to the Weyr and stand for the queen egg?"

"Oh, yes sir!"

"Is there anything you want to bring? Anyone you want to say goodbye to?"

Ellador glanced back at the house, and then in a rare display of courage and characterisation, she shook her head. "No. There's nothing here."

And so Ellador set off for the Weyr with P'rin and Charminth in search of a queen dragon and a happily ever after.


	13. Dorasa: Two Days More

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I do not own the Dragonriders of Pern.

There was soon a rush of riders in the bowl to deal with Tardreela’s death. One small blue was sent down with the help of two agile greens to retrieve the body. Candidate master D’vran was handed over to the Weyr Healer as he continued to stare uselessly into the middle distance and open and close his mouth rather uselessly.

“What happened?” asked the Senior-Weyrwoman. Sirena gave her a rather succent summary. The Weyrwoman sighed heavily.

“She just fell?”

“Pretty much. There was nothing any of us could do. Yariel tried to catch her but she pulled away.”

“A tragic accident,” said one of the bronze riders, shaking his head. “So young, and so beautiful too. Such a waste.”

“I couldn’t save her,” Yariel whispered. “I tried, but she just…”

Dorasa wrapped an arm around her little brother’s waist. “You can’t save everyone.”

“But I should have been able to save her. I was right there.”

Dorasa sighed. Yariel had had a saving thing since the day she was kidnapped (the first time), starting his first quest, and after seeing so much death, hated not being able to save anyone, no matter how small they were.

“If I hadn’t got in that fight with her…”

“You weren’t to know.”

“I should have held my temper. Things were meant to be better here.”

She squeezed him tight. “Sometimes there’s just nothing you can do. Come on, let’s go get cleaned up.”

He followed her back to the barracks, Glimmer and Marvel draped miserably over his shoulders. Ric and Sal tried to chirp encouragement, to no avail. Dorasa left him at the boys’ barracks and returned to the girls’ barracks to bathe and change. She was covered in cuts and scratches from Tardreela’s firelizards, long, scarlet red gashes that marred her tanned skin. Those that were deep stung as she entered the water and Sal and Ric wittered at her pain. Glimmer winked from between to perch on the edge of the pool. Dorasa raised an eyebrow. “Yariel you pervert.”

Glimmer gave her a flash of blood and a question mark. Dorasa sent Sal back with her with an image of her being fine – and also naked. This time Marvel returned with Sal, carrying a message of embarrassed indignation. Dorasa laughed and sent him back to Yariel.

“Was that really necessary?” he grumbled as they walked down to the hall for breakfast. Dorasa laughed.

“I don’t tend to bathe with my clothes on baby brother.”

“Child,” he muttered. She grinned, and he grinned back.

There were much fewer people in the hall than there had been the previous day. It didn’t take a genius to work out why. Dorasa ladled them both a bowl of porridge and they chose seats.

“Do you think it will be better here?” Yariel asked after swallowing a mouthful of porridge.

“I think we need to give it time. We’ve only been here two days.”

Yariel nodded, and then tipped his head, reaching out to push a section of her scarlet hair aside. “You’re bruising.”

Dorasa traced her fingers over the tender spot where the now unfortunately deceased Tardreela had struck her. "It's nothing."

He brushed his fingers over one of the gashes on her arm. "And those lizards of hers did some damage."

"You know full well it'll heal up. Don't worry about it."

"Do you need to see the Healer?"

"For a few scratches that'll be healed up by morning? No."

Luckily, his attention was diverted at that moment by a man wearing bronzerider's knots entering with a blonde girl in a ragged old knee length tunic, though even the clothing and dirt couldn't distract from her beauty. A brown firelizard sat on one of her shoulders and a green on the other. The rider took her to Jurdree, who led her away into the kitchens.

"New candidate do you think?" Yariel asked.

"Why? Are you interested baby brother?"

He flushed scarlet with indignation. She laughed and laughed.

The girl was indeed a new candidate. Her name was Ellador and she was eighteen turns of age. The reason Jurdree had had to take her away was that, much like Annaliessa, she had arrived with absolutely nothing and needed to be equipped with clothing and necessities.

Dorasa could admit she was beautiful, and a sweet enough girl, but after ten minutes of conversation it became all too painfully apparent that she simply... well, wasn't that bright. Still, she was a sunny, bright spirited girl who seemed to have a good heart, and her fire lizards were happy enough.

She wasn't great on conversation topics, but there were worse people for company.

Candidate master D'vran remained in the hospital wing after witnessing the... event this morning. The official story was that he was suffering from watching one of the candidates in his care die a tragic and ultimately pointless death, but they all (except Ellador, who hadn't arrived yet at that point) knew the truth.

As a result, they were to join lessons with candidate master R'ton and the boys until further notice, a term which here means until D'vran recovered enough to return to duties or a new candidate master for the girls was found. R'ton was a bronzerider, a tall, lanky man with a slight limp.

"Don't expect special treatment just because you're girls," he grunted as he showed them into the classroom, and that should have been that.

"Why are they in here?" whined a thin faced boy with silver-blonde hair and pale eyes. "They're girls!"

"Nicely identified," Dorasa muttered to Yariel.

"Because I say so, now get to work copying that scroll."

"When my father hears about this-"

"He won't have time to interfere, now copy the fardling scroll Dralyoco."

The scroll in question was one of dragon anatomy, depicting the basics of dragon physiology. It wasn't all that much different from the twin bronze firelizards currently twined around Dorasa's neck asleep.

"Now, your dragons might look small at first, but they will be hungry, and they will grow, quickly. You will need to feed your dragon and keep them oiled."

Dorasa put her hand up.

"Yes, you with the red hair."

"Sir, what are the differences between a dragon and a firelizard in terms of physiology. Other than size, obviously."

He blinked and then smiled at her. "A good question."

Lessons lasted the entirety of the morning and into the early afternoon, when they were released for lunch and then chores. It wasn’t so different from Porret Hold Dorasa supposed as she scrubbed the kitchen floor. Accoring to Sirena, they had two hours of duties and chores a day, and then they were free to explore the island and Weyr and use their free time as they wished.

So maybe that part differed from the constant work at Porret.

Ellador sang as she worked, and her firelizards hummed along with her. It was actually quite irritating, but it seemed to make the girl happy, so Dorasa left her to it. Kuyaran, when she was called into the kitchen to help Ellador chop vegetables, did not. “Knock it off with that racket would you?”

Ellador’s baby blue eyes filled with tears. “What- What racket?”

“That noise you call singing. It’s giving me a headache.”

“Then go drown yourself in Fellis and leave the girl to her music,” Dorasa snapped primly. “She’s not hurting anyone.”

Ellador blushed, but she didn’t sing any more after that.

Jurdree brought the next girl in to join them. She was a broad shouldered girl with a round, flat face, square, flattish nose, small dark beady eyes, and thick lips, wearing a terrible yellow dress that absolutely did not suit her.

“Girls, this is our new female candidate, Mary Sue.”

“Good to meet you,” chirped Ellador.

Kuyaran only grunted, and Dorasa lifted her dirty and soap covered hands. “I’d shake hands, but, uh-”

“Eh, I’ve touched worse,” said Mary Sue, and took her hand. “Nice to meet you all. Is this all the girls? When do the eggs hatch?”

Kuyaran burst out laughing.

All Dorasa could think about was how they had to get that poor girl some better clothes.

They spoke to Mary Sue as they worked and set the questions into context. Apparently she knew a girl who had stood as a candidate at Igen Weyr, and there had only been three candidates for the Queen dragon there.

“Fardles, only three?” Kuyaran was aghast. “They were flaming lucky she picked one of them!”

“She didn’t, she impressed a girl in the stands,” replied Mary Sue.

Kuyaran shook her head, speechless.

They also learnt they had only flown the girls in the night before the Hatching.

“So no touching?” Kuyaran asked.

“Touching?”

“Where you see the eggs.”

“Oh. No.”

Kuyaran huffed and said nothing more.

Once they had finished with chores they went back to the candidate barracks, where Dorasa looked through Mary Sue’s clothes. All of it was either too big, too small, or an ill suiting colour.

“Who chooses your clothes?”

“It’s hand-me-downs.”

“That makes sense.”

Dorasa took her to the lower caverns to get her something better suited ordered.

The last girl to arrive that day was Princess Lilyen Adalicia Midnight. She was brought in by a young bronzerider who acted as though she was the greatest thing to ever grace the planet of Pern and dropped off in the candidate’s barracks as it was almost curfew for the candidates. She was a tall, willowy girl with skin so pale Dorasa had to wonder if she knew what the sun was. In contrast, her hair was ink black with a purple sheen, falling pin straight to her knees. Her eyes were a glittering shade of pale blue and shimmered as though they had seen all the sadness in the world. On her shoulders sat two firelizards that looked newly hatched, a gold and a bronze.

“Welcome to Sunspyre Weyr,” Sirena said, and launched into her speech to introduce herself and the rules. “Did you bring any belongings with you?”

Tears shone in Princess Lilyen Adalicia Midnight’s beautiful baby blue eyes. “Oh, no. My father threw me out after I accidentally impressed the firelizards gifted to him by our Lord Holder after I saved his son from a tragic Threadfall accident.” She gazed mistily into the distance. “I feel so lucky I’dot and Denseth picked me up! I would have died in the Threadfall otherwise!”

“No,” grunted Kuyaran.

“What?”

“The correct answer to the question Sirena asked was ‘no.’ You’re welcome.”

Princess Lilyen Adalicia Midnight stalked over to scowl at her. “And you’re very rude.”

“So what? I’m a bronzerider’s daughter, I can say what I like. And I say the correct answer was ‘no.’”

Sirena hurried over to break things up and take Princess Lilyen Adalicia Midnight’s arm. “These are your chambers. I’ll lend you a nightgown for tonight, and we’ll get you fitted for clothes in the morning.”

“Oh, no. I have a nightgown in my bag.” Princess Lilyen Adalicia Midnight touched the bag Dorasa could have sworn she wasn’t carrying before.

“Alright. Then I’ll see you in the morning.”

Dorasa decided that was a good time for her to retire too, especially since she was getting up to train with Yariel in the morning again.

They were just finishing up their training in the morning when the next candidate arrived. This time it was a pleasant surprise as the slightly younger girl slid from the dragon’s back.

“Mia?” asked Yariel in a little disbelief.

The girl stared at them for a moment and then a grin broke out across her face. “Yariel! Dorasa! Oh my gosh! What are you doing here?”

“We’re candidates here, same as you I’m guessing.”

“Yes!” squealed Mia, racing over to wrap her arms around them in a tight hug. “Goodness it’s good to see you two! I haven’t seen you in ages! Can you believe this, us all being here?”

Yariel stepped neatly around her to help the rider lift her trunk down from the dragon.

“Oh.” Mia blushed scarlet. “Sorry. I forgot about that. These are friends of mine.”

The rider laughed. “I gathered. Jaraneth wants to eat and sleep now, so I’ll leave you with them.”

“Of course! Thank you!”

They took a handle of her trunk each and lifted it, carrying it back towards the barracks.

“So how long have you been here?”

“A few days now.”

“Are any of the other candidates here yet? What are they like?”

“Most of them are nice enough,” replied Dorasa. “You can bunk with me if you want.”

“Absolutely!”

A few of the other girls were up by the time they got back to the barracks. They dropped Mia’s trunk off in their chambers and introduced her.

Annaliessa frowned. “So how do you three know each other?”

Princess Lilyen Adalicia Midnight gasped. “Annaliessa! You can’t ask such questions; it’s rude!”

“Oh, no, it’s no problem,” Dorasa assured her quickly.

“Mia helped us with some of our questing missions. She’s a good friend,” Yariel explained.

Revina scowled at her.

The man saying he was their new candidate master arrived as they were waiting on Tummi and Jakeiria so they could go out to morning exercises. He was a tall, tall man, with a balding head and round, round eyes. He wore an eyesore of a jacket made from many bright colours that clashed and knee high boots with painted red heels and blue laces. On his shoulder was a lump of fabric sewed to look roughly like a firelizard. “Good morning, good morning female candidates.”

Sirena eyed him. “Who are you?”

“I am your new candidate master.”

“I don’t recognise you.”

“That’s because I’m new! And I don’t come out very much. Teenagers, who’d want to be around them?”

“I’ve lived here my entire life; I know every rider in this weyr!”

“I transferred if you must know Miss Nosey. Last night. At the last moment. To be candidate master. For you. Are there any more questions?”

“Why do you have a lump of fabric on your shoulder?” asked Annaliessa.

“Why are you wearing such terrible clothes?” asked Jakeiria.

“Why didn’t any of the other riders come to introduce you?” asked Revina.

“Bad disguise?” asked Solaris, which of course actually meant ‘are you really Lord Taff in disguise?’

All the girls looked at her.

She shrugged. “Wha?”

“She’s right,” said Indigo. “That is a terrible disguise.”

“It is not a terrib- It is not a disguise! Now, I want you all to get out there and run fifty laps around the island!”

Gasps and groans of horror came from the gathered candidates.

“Except you, and you, and you.” He pointed at Indigo, Solaris, and Yariel. “You can run one hundred.”

“What? Why?”

“Because I’ve been told you’re orphans, and I don’t like orphans.”

Uproar erupted in the common room.

“That’s not fair!” snapped Kuyaran.

“I don’t care!”

“You do realise I’m an orphan too?” Dorasa asked slowly.

“You what?”

“And me,” said Annaliessa.

“Yes,” said Yornam.

“What? But you can’t all be orphans!”

“And why not?” challenged Dorasa.

“Gah! I’m surrounded by them! Just- Get out there and run your laps! One hundred and fifty times around the island. For all of you!”

They filtered out before he decided to spew any more nonsense. Indigo siddled up to Sirena. “That man is not a dragonrider.”

“I know. I’ll speak to my mom.”

“No, I mean that man is clearly Lord Taff in a bad disguise.”

“Bad disguise,” agreed Solaris.

“And he is..?”

“He’s a terrible man who keeps trying to kidnap us and make us tell him where our parents left our inheritance.”

“Bad man,” agreed Solaris.

“Let’s go talk to my mum,” said Sirena.

They all went, the group of seventeen of them (eighteen if one counted Solaris), straight to the Senior-Weyrwoman’s quarters instead of out to run laps around the island.

“We wanted to talk about the new candidate master,” Sirena said when they were all gathered inside.

The Weyrwoman frowned. “What new candidate master?”

Sirena opened her mouth and then frowned. “Did he ever give a name?”

They looked around at each other.

“I don’t think he did,” replied Kuyaran.

“He didn’t give a name and you just decided to accept him as the candidate master?” asked the Weyrleader, wandering over wearing nothing but a tunic.

“Well, no. That’s why we’re here,” Sirena said.

“Fine. What does he look like, this man?”

“Tall,” said Revina.

“Going bald,” said Ritilia.

“Round eyes,” said Naeressa.

“Badly made stuffed firelizard on his shoulder,” said Kuyaran.

“Terrible fashion sense,” said Jakeiria.

“Lord Taff,” said Solaris.

The Weyrleader frowned at her. “Sirena, why is one of the candidates a small toddler?”

“Oh, this is Solaris. Indigo insists on keeping her with her.”

“Yours is she?” he asked, looking at Indigo.

“No sir. She’s my sister.”

“Never mind that,” snapped the Weyrwoman. “I want to know who this man is and what he’s doing here!” She turned to the Weyrleader. “Find him, detain him, and find out.”

“On it.”

“Girls, I think it’s best you stay out of the way and safe until we know who this man is.”

“Lord Taff,” repeated Solaris. Sirena sighed.

“Indigo thinks he’s a man who keeps trying to kidnap her.”

“I see. Well, we’ll soon find out. Take the girls down to the empty Queen’s weyr at the end. I’ll have breakfast brought up to you.”

They gathered in the empty weyr. It was strange to think that if things went well then in a year’s time she might have a weyr like this of her own.

Indigo didn’t seem to be able to settle. She sat first on the stone sofa with Solaris on her lap, then stood and paced the weyr for a while before stopping on the ledge overlooking the lake. Evidently she wasn’t happy there either, because she soon began to pace again. Solaris tottered along at her heels.

Jurdree brought them breakfast and told them no man had been found in the candidate barracks or in any good supervising places. The riders were currently searching the island for him.

“It’ll be somewhere obvious. He’s very good at blending in,” Indigo said.

“Pah,” said Solaris.

BREAK

They stayed in the empty weyr all day. R’ton brought them a scroll to study and copy with the help of the three weyrbred girls.

“Is it always like this?” asked Mia.

“Not always. You arrived at a bad time,” Sirena replied.

Arguably, Diazaikko-Lovea, the next girl to arrive arrived at an even worse time. Jurdree brought her through to join them. She was a delicate, dainty looking creature of fourteen, with hair of the palest gold, in clothes of the finest makes. Her eyes were a pale yellow when she arrived, but began taking on soft purple and blue hues as the time went by. Annaliessa (of course) asked her about it.

“Oh, that’s normal for me. My eyes change colour with my emotions. My mother used to say it was a special gift of our bloodline, but she died shortly after I was born, so I can’t ask her about it.”

The colour in her eyes changed to a pale grey. The other girls clamoured round her to ‘ooh’ and offer support. Yariel huffed. “Bet I could do that too.”

Dorasa grinned. “What, you want all the attention of the girls?”

He grinned back. “Nope. Only two of them.”

The riders didn’t find the man, this Lord Taff as Indigo insisted he was. The girls voted, almost unanimously, to leave the weyr at suppertime, take the meal and return to the candidate barracks. Dorasa settled into her bunk for the night. “I’ll be up early in the morning for training with Yariel. Sorry if I wake you.”

“Can I come?” asked Mia.

“You know you’re always welcome.”


	14. Jakeiria: In the Dark of the Night

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I do not own the Dragonriders of Pern.

She was awoken far too early by shrill screams ringing through the candidate barracks. It sounded like Ritilia. Jakeiria, who had never willingly helped another in her life (unlike her younger, sweeter, kinder sister), was tempted to roll over and go back to sleep, but it occurred to her selfish mind that if there was a danger, it could come after her next. She stretched out her slender limbs, shapely and fine since she had left all the true work on the farm to her sister and brothers, picked up the glass by her bed for a weapon, and cracked the door open just in time to see a flash of red hair vanish through the common room door, which slammed closed second later. Kuyaran quickly yanked it open and scrambled out of sight. Jakeiria stepped from her chambers. “What is going on?”

The screaming was definitely Ritilia, she decided, and noticed the door to her chambers was open, Revina’s copper haired figure stood in the doorway. She glanced at her.

“We’ve had a break-in. They got into Ritilia and Annaliessa’s room.”

“It’s too early for this. I’m going back to bed.”

“Is that Jakeiria? Send her in,” Sirena called before she could open the door.

“Ugh, why? It’s far too early for this.”

“Your sister needs you!”

“She’s a big girl.”

The screaming broke off for a moment and Ritilia’s voice cried out her name. Jakeiria wrenched her door open and slammed it closed behind her, pulling her pillow over head to try and shut out some of the noise.

She got barely another half hour of uncomfortable rest before Sirena started to bang on doors. Jakeiria took the time to dress properly and make her hair look presentable before joining the other girls in the common room. The Weyrleaders were there with them, along with several other men in bronze and brown rider knots. Ritilia was huddled up against Yornam on one of the sofas, Yornam’s arms wrapped securely around her. Her face was red and tearstreaked. A queen firelizard was curled up in her lap and a bronze one wrapped tightly around her neck. Annaliessa sat on her other side, wide eyed and teary, with Rasia holding her hands on their knees. A brown firelizard sat on her shoulder. Sirena lounged behind the four girls, her face set stony and hard. “Nice of you to decide to join us.”

Jakeiria sneered and took a seat on the other sofa. She thought she was all that because her mother was the Weyrwoman, but she’d be nothing once the Hatching was over and Jakeiria had her Queen.

Her sister, Ritilia, had always been a dreamer with her head in the clouds, drifting through life with no desires, but Jakeiria was ambitious, longing for splendour and success.

Sunspyre Weyr was not turning out to be what she had expected. She was a Queen candidate: she ought to be pampered, spoiled, and showered with gifts from handsome bronze riders wanting to win her favour early!

Well.

That last one was still happening. But they also expected her to do physical exercise, lessons, and actual chores. Jakeiria was a skilled seamstress, but she would never get her hands dirty with harder chores.

“They’re still searching the Weyr for the intruder,” said the Weyrleader. Jakeiria frowned.

“What intruder?”

“Maybe if you’d been here you’d know,” snapped Revina. Jakeiria scowled at her. She scowled back.

“It was the man from yesterday,” whispered Ritilia. “And he- he- he-” She burst into tears and buried her head in Yornam’s ample chest. Fardles, she was such a crybaby! The firelizards twittered anxiously and nuzzled at her neck. Jakeiria rolled her eyes.

“Rest assured, he will be found and brought to justice.”

“You won’t find him,” muttered the girl with the toddler (Ingrid? Lilac?)

“He’s too good at hiding,” said the boy at her side, who looked enough like her and Jakeiria had seen with her enough to assume he was her brother. The toddler in her lap nodded far too sagely for a toddler.

“Toggle.”

“Our sister says no one ever finds him.”

“Well, we will. Whoever he is, he’s killed one of our riders, and for that he will pay.”

“He’s killed more than that,” muttered the girl, leaning against her brother.

“More riders?” asked the Weyrwoman with a frown.

“More people,” clarified the girl.

“Anyone who tries to look after us,” said the boy.

“Tecra!” said the toddler.

“She says that’s why he killed the rider.”

“I see. Well, there’s nowhere for him to hide here. This is an island, and all my riders know each other. In the meantime, I’m going to have you all moved back to the Queen’s Weyr, where it’s safer.”

Great. Another day shut in with these idiots.

At least they got to miss morning exercises.

The next girl to arrive was brought in as they were eating breakfast in the Queen’s Weyr and introduced herself as Daisuke Laila Dionte, or Daisaila for short. Her most prominent feature was the bluish silver arrows painted down her arms to end at her hands and over the back of her head to end at her forehead.

“What’s with the body paint?” Revina asked.

Daisuke Laila Dionte, or Daisaila for short, blushed a soft pink. Jakeiria snorted.

“Probably to hide her freakishness.”

Daisuke Laila Dionte, or Daisaila for short, scowled, and the painted arrows began to glow. “It is a very ancient important tradition of my family, of which I am tragically the last. Apologise now for your slight, you- you ignoramus!”

Jakeiria waved a hand at her. “Fine, fine. Whatever. Keep your paint.”

The arrows glowed brighter. Daisuke Laila Dionte’s, or Daisaila’s for short, eyes began to glow.

“It’s not paint!” she shrieked.

“It looks like paint,” said Annaliessa.

“It does look like paint,” agreed Revina helpfully.

“It’s not paint,” screamed Daisuke Laila Dionte, or Daisaila for short. The flames in the fireplace roared upwards and outwards. Mary Sue and Tummi shrieked while the siblings with the toddler sprang to their feet and rolled, instinctive-looking, over the back of the stone sofa to put a barricade between them as flames roared up the stone wall. The liquid in the jugs and vases began to shake and rise in long, watery tenticles. Rasia and Yornam swept Ritilia and the other younger candidates behind them, forming a barrier between them and the fire. Yornam’s many, many, many firelizards fluttered around them, squawking. Naeressa’s hands exploded into flame and she rushed at the other girl, only for the water now circling around her to slam into her chest and hurl her over the weyr ledge. Yariel and Dorasa drew their blades, but the wicked wind whipping through the Weyr threw the two back against the stone wall. Yariel slid lifelessly to the floor while Dorasa’s eyes shone a brighter silver than the new girl’s. Silver light splashed down over her skin, playing across her scarlet hair.

The door flew open and one of the bronzeriders meant to be guarding them appeared around the edge.

“Everything alright in here?”

The floor began to shake, small pebbles rising into the air. Rasia and Yornam gathered up the siblings with the toddler and began to steer all the younger candidates towards the weyr ledge. Dorasa rolled onto all fours.

“What do you think?” screamed Kuyaran. Shards of stone began to pelt the candidates (and rider), one hitting one of the twins hard enough to cut their cheek and draw blood. The two, who had until now been seemingly uncaring of the chaos unfurling around them, reached for each other and linked hands. The rider drew his knife.

“You need to calm down!” he shouted into the whirlwind screaming around the girl. The only result was that a blast of air slammed into his chest, throwing him into the now closed door.

Now was probably the time to leave. Jakeiria edged across the room to join the candidates now on the ledge. Somehow, the two with the toddler and the ugly girl with the firelizard were already on the ground far below.

There was a delicate, feminine cry from behind them. Jakeiria and Rasia turned to see the new girl, Daisuke Laila Dionte, or Daisaila for short, was on the floor, blood pooling dramatically around her. The rider stood behind her, his knife in hand, stained scarlet, and Dorasa was stood to one side, her own sword hanging from her slender fingers, blood dripping from the blade.

“Is she… Is she dead?” Rasia asked.

Dorasa kicked the body, hard.

“Yup,” she agreed, sheathing her sword and moving to help a groaning Yariel to his feet.

“Thanks bro,” muttered Kuyaran, making her way over to the rider. He touched her shoulder.

“You alright?”

“Think so.”

“Send Dancer to the Weyrleaders, tell them what’s happened.”

Kuyaran’s bronze firelizard flashed _between_.

“Is anyone hurt?” Sirena asked.

By some absolute miracle, most of the candidates, though shaken and battered, were unhurt. The only injuries sustained were to Yariel and Dorasa, the twin who cut their cheek (it turned out to be the boy, which gave them a way of telling them apart), and the ugly firelizard girl, who had sprained her ankle escaping the weyr. Sirena hurried them all from that weyr and down the corridor to the Head-Weyrwoman’s, while the other rider on guard retrieved those out in the bowl and then took those that had been hurt down to the infirmary. Several of the candidates were crying, and that girl with far too many names kept trying to drape herself over the bronze rider that saved them, who had a hand on Kuyaran at all times as though he thought she might vanish if he stopped touching her.

Head-Weyrwoman Jalenna was horrified when she heard what had happened, more so when she learnt some of the candidates had been injured.

“And where were you?” she demanded of the rider.

“Right there protecting us, like he was meant to be,” Kuyaran snapped. Her firelizard trilled a cross sounding note. She waved a hand at Jakeiria. “Besides, she was the one set her off!”

“Me?”

“You had to make that comment about the weird paint.”

“I apologised; she made it worse!” Jakeiria jabbed her finger at Annaliessa.

“Well it did look like paint!”

“Did you have to keep telling her that?” snapped Rasia.

Weyrwoman Jalenna rubbed her head. “Girls, girls!”

The group of them continued arguing until the Weyrleader bellowed for silence and they fell quiet.

“We will talk to you, in groups, and work out what happened. In the meantime, you are to stay with J’kon and Korsath in another of the empty weyrs. He will be taking over as candidate master for the girls.”

Kuyaran frowned and narrowed her eyes. “What, a real one this time?”

“Yes, a real one this time.” She indicated the man behind her, who wore bronzerider’s knots. “Sirena, Kuyaran, Revina, wait here. Everyone else, follow your new candidate master.”

J’kon was an ugly, grizzled beast of a man, not a bronzerider Jakeiria wanted to waste any time with. He wasted no time in using his own dragon as a teaching aid and getting most of the girls involved in an anatomy lesson. Jakeiria was called out an hour later to tell the Weyrleaders her version of the story before being escorted back to the weyr.

Since they were to be in the weyr all day, the lesson lasted all day, like they were eight turns old in front of the Harper or something. The twins and the ugly girl returned from the infirmary, but Yariel and Dorasa never did. Neither, Jakeiria noticed, did that girl with the rainbow coloured hair.

The only other candidates to arrive that day were three young girls who said they were sisters, though the only similarity Jakeiria could see between them was that they were all small and annoying. The first was a slender red haired girl called Sakura Shompoo Cherry Blossom, who had large, slightly luminious pink eyes. The second was a broadshouldered, muscular girl with shorter black hair and brilliant green eyes called Sherazzo Connifer Bluebel, and the third was a slightly smaller, waifish creature with radiant blue eyes who introduced herself as Siovati Ovature Bliss. All of them were there as candidates for a green dragon, and so none of them were of any interest or competition to Jakeiria. She just hoped they were normal, and tried to tell herself she hadn’t seen the blue eyed one levitate slightly when she tripped and fell over her own feet.

She only had to last five weeks of this, Jakeiria told herself, and buried the part of her that wanted desperately to grab Ritilia and catch the next boat back to the mainland away from all this insanity. She only had to last five weeks, and then she’d have her Queen dragon. It would all be worth it, and it would not be her problem.

When evening fell and the girls were given the option, they decided unanimously to stay in the empty weyr. Straw and blankets were brought in to make makeshift beds for them, and they organised a watch schedule for four of them to always be awake during the night, despite the riders sat on guard right outside the door.

Ritilia fell asleep huddled between Rasia and Yornam.

Jakeiria scowled and told herself she wasn’t jealous.


	15. Jalenna: Interlude

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I do not own The Dragonriders of Pern or anything else you recognise. All rights belong to their rightful owners.

This Hatching was already a disaster, and the eggs weren’t even hatched yet.

D’vran was still in the infirmary recovering from whatever shocked state he’d entered, they had some sort of deranged lunatic who no one seemed to be able to find running around the island traumatising the girls, and two of the female candidates had died.

Died!

Of course, it happened now and again. But in the history of Sunspyre Weyr, there were only twelve recorded candidate deaths. Five of those were due to illness. Now there were two more within days of each other, both with bizarre deaths under strange circumstances.

Jalenna took a long sip of her wine.

Everyone had agreed that Tardreela’s death had been an accident, that she had simply slipped backwards from the cliff while arguing with Naeressa and Yariel. It was an accident that never should have happened, but no one could have predicted it.

This second death though, Daisuke Laila Dionte…

From what the girls and K’rut had said, she had lost her temper and then strange, inexplicable things had started happening.

Strange, inexplicable things had been happening ever since the clutch was laid and the candidates started arriving in Jalenna’s opinion.

The girls said the fire went crazy and started raging out into the room, which they could confirm by the scorch marks on the walls, ceiling, and floor. They said other things started flying, stones and liquid, and the girl had attacked them with them. According to the girls, the dead girl had then thrown Naeressa – who still had yet to be found – from the weyr ledge and Yariel and Dorasa against the wall. Kuyaran and Revina said it was around then that she started faltering – like she had a headache, Revina said – and Dorasa attacked her with her sword. While she was distracted, K’rut stabbed her in the back.

The whole thing was a mess.

Jalenna drank more of the wine.

According to the bronzerider who Searched her, B’ron, the girl had no family, friends, or possessions. She just appeared from the mountains and requested to be taken as a candidate. Since she had power, he saw no hard in obliging a beautiful girl.

Well, there was harm.

There was fardling harm!

Jalenna drank some more of the wine as K’res entered the weyr.

“The girls are staying where they are for tonight. J’kon and K’rut are going to stay with them.”

Jalenna nodded. “How are they?”

“Some of them seem very shaken up about it all. Yariel and Dorasa are still in the infirmary. Korvash says they’ve broken their ribs and the boy’s got a mild concussion.”

Jalenna groaned.

“Apparently they’re already better than they were this morning though. Korvash says it’s strange.”

“Everything about this clutch and these candidates is strange.”

K’res hummed agreement. “B’ron and T’res are going back to High Reaches in the morning to see if anyone there knows who she really was. The way things are going, I’ve not much hope.”

“No,” mumbled Jalenna, taking another long sip of wine. “I want a notice put out for the entire Weyr. No more strange fardling candidates.”

“You’re drunk love.”

Jalenna scowled at her empty glass and the empty bottle next to it. “Maybe I’m not drunk enough. I mean it K’res: no more weird candidates! No kids with glowing eyes, or rainbow hair, or mysterious pasts, or- or- or- or who walk mysteriously out of the mountains! None!”

“Alright, alright, I’ll put it out. No more strange or mysterious candidates.”

K’res decided now was not the best time to tell her what Y’ven had brought back.


	16. Lily: A Whole New World

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I do not own the Dragonriders of Pern.

Lily Smith was an ordinary girl who lived an ordinary life. Every day she woke up, dressed, ate breakfast, locked the house, and went to school, where she never fit in with anyone and was ruthlessly bullied by her classmates. She would return home, unlock the house, make her own tea, and read until it was time to shower. If she was lucky, she might see her busy sugeon parents before she went to bed at ten o’clock, but most nights she fell asleep listening for the sound of the door opening.

This day was different.

She was woken not by her alarm clock but by a really annoying humming sound that sounded like some kind of animal. She opened her eyes and was nearly blinded by the sudden light. She closed her eyes again and rubbed at them before opening them a crack.

Her surroundings were the strangest looking trees and rocks she’d ever seen. This wasn’t her neighbourhood.

Lily stretched and pushed herself to her feet. Her scarlet red hair tumbled about her face. This was the most exotic looking, green forest she had ever seen. She blinked and rubbed at her eyes to try and fix the colours. It didn’t help.

“Mum?” she called cautiously. “Dad?”

If this was a joke from them, it wasn’t very funny. Or her taste. They didn’t know her very well. She felt like she didn’t know them at all.

“Anyone?”

The humming got louder. It was the only sign of life she had so far, so Lily moved towards it. She found a thing that looked a little like a green lizard, if lizards had hide not scales, and had wings and spiralling multi-coloured eyes. It was hunched over a clutch of what she guessed were eggs. Most of them were already hatched. Only four were left. Smaller green lizard things hatched from them. Lily reached for one, but it quickly vanished. The larger green thing chirped and vanished. Lily reached for the remaining egg. It trembled under her hand. She tapped it. It cracked a little. Lily felt in the dirt and found a rock, which she tapped carefully on the egg. The cracks spread.

A small silver lizard thing fell out. It chirped weakly and flapped its wings. Lily scooped it up. “I better find you some food.”

She found a rotting corpse of something after a little while, and fed some of the better meat to the lizard thing, which fell asleep on her shoulder. She walked through the jungle for many, many, many hours.

So many hours.

Finally, she found a river. Being an intelligent and brave girl, she knew to follow it to find a settlement.

The first sign of life she found was not a settlement but a body tangled in the reeds of the river. Lily was a kind and caring girl, and so she rushed over to help them.

The body was a girl, younger than her, with a mass of silver hair tangled around her and the palest skin she’d ever seen. Lily waded into the river, bravely battling the current, and checked for a pulse before pulling the other girl from the water. She dropped her on her side, collapsed next to her on the riverbank, panting, and looked at her lizard-thing. “Any ideas for what now?”

They must be miles and hours from the nearest hospital. She had no phone to ring for help, and wouldn’t know who to call even if she did. She was becoming more and more doubtful that this was even England. “If this is some sort of hidden camera show, I’m so over it.”

The girl next to her began to cough and splutter, throwing up water. Lily held her shoulders until she stopped. She gazed at her with large grey eyes through thick black lashes. “I knew you would find me.”

“Do I know you?”

“You do now.”

That was true in a roundabout manner.

“Are you okay?”

“There will be better days.” She sat up, pushing her sopping hair away from her face, which was scratched and bruised.

“Do you know where we are?”

“Where we are matters not; what matters is where we are going.”

“That’s a no then?”

The girl tilted her head. “That’s a no.”

“I’m Lily Smith. What’s your name?”

“Luna.”

“Nice to meet you Luna.”

“Nice to meet you too.”

“Do you think you can walk?”

Luna stretched her legs. “I think I can try.”

Lily helped her stand, which she managed with some slight difficulty. “You must have come from somewhere up the river, right?”

“That is the past now. We must not move towards the past.”

“Is there anything down this way?”

“One can never know what the future will bring. It is always a great unknown.”

Lily was now pretty sure she had fallen into a cheesy fantasy movie.

Still, Luna was some company.

The two girls walked for what felt like forever and ever, she finally found a small collection of stone buildings. A little boy ran out to meet her.

“Hi!”

“Hi. Can you tell me where I am?”

“Greenwater! You’re pretty!”

“Thank you?”

“Have you come to see the dragons?”

“Dragons?”

There was no such thing as dragons.

There was no such thing as dragons.

There was no such thing as dragons.

Lily told herself that until she was stood looking at the three large dragons stood in a stone yard. They looked a little like larger versions of her own white lizard. Teenage boys and girls were hurrying to see them. Most looked sad when they left.

“But they can’t actually be dragons. They can’t be.”

“Why do you say that when you have dragon-kin right here?” Luna asked, pointing to her own little lizard-thing.

“There is no such thing as dragons.”

“There have been dragons on Pern for as long as there have been humans. They must be partnered together.” Luna began to drift towards the dragons.

“Wait wait wait. Where did you just say we were?”

“Without the dragons, humans would be unable to live here.”

“No, the last part. You said something about a ‘Pern?’”

“Are you quite alright yourself Lily? Even I know this planet is called Pern.”

She wasn’t even on Earth.

She wasn’t even on fucking Earth!

Lily felt lightheaded.

And they had got incredibly close to the dragons without her realising.

One of them, the largest, which was a soft brown colour, shoved her with its head. Lily’s legs gave way under her. She collapsed in a heap. A man hurried over to help her up.

“Are you alright there?”

“I-I-I-”

“It can be quite the shock, I know.”

Luna was smiling and stroking the shoulder of the green – dragon – like it was an old friend.

“Kayorth says you could stand as a candidate if you wanted to.”

Lily nearly said she just wanted to go home, but then she thought of it, of the parents she never saw and the classmates who always bullied her. “I’d love to.”

And so it was that Lily, born of a different world, and her strange new companions Luna and the weird silver lizard thing set off to the Weyr in search of a new life (and, just maybe, a new family to love them).


	17. Desiree Aimah Flameheart: Be Prepared

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I do not own the Dragonriders of Pern. All rights belong to their rightful owners.

They found her wandering around the Southern continent with no memory of how she got there, or much else, really, though she had managed to impress two Queen firelizards and a bronze before being found. Her name was Desiree Aimah Flameheart, and she was the most divine creature anyone at Sunspyre Weyr had ever laid eyes on.

She had a heart shaped face, with plump, soft pink lips, high cheekbones, and large, sparkling sky blue eyes, standing at a graceful 5’8 with an hourglass figure and curves to die for. Her hair was a shimmering cherry blonde, falling to her knees in graceful waves that were undisturbed despite her time spent dragonback. She wore a fine, pale pink dress with an intricate lace bodice and ruffles around the waist and hems. Y’ven, the bronzerider who found her, was captivated and immediately brought her back to the Weyr.

Since the other female candidates were all already asleep in the unused weyr or preparing for bed and the girls’ barracks couldn’t be used for fear of another break-in, she was given a small cavern of her own in the lower caverns. There, she quickly endeared herself to Jurdree by charming the lower caverns children to sleep and expertly treating the cut arm of one of them. Once everything was in order, she settled happily into the soft blankets and drifted into an easy sleep.

She woke early in the morning, as had always been her routine, and stretched her fine body and lithe limbs before dressing in a fine powder blue dress with flowers twined around the skirt. Her strawberry blonde hair fell gloriously to her waist in soft curls. There were only a few drudges and lower caverns women about at this hour, and she didn’t want to bother them, so, not knowing what to do, she drifted through the Weyr for a walk. Her three beloved firelizards, Starlight Twinkle, Moonbright Light and Sunrise, clung to her shoulders and wide hips as she walked. For as long as she could remember (which wasn’t very long) they had been her only companions, her best friends. Of course, now that was all changing. She was here at the Weyr, where she could finally be part of a family and community, and maybe, just maybe, make some sense of the dreams she had been having for as long as she could remember. She was pretty sure they were of the home planet they left so long ago, which she had read about in her Mysterious Book that she found in a tree.

O to go there and discover what lay beyond the stars!

Such a glorious destiny she had that lay ahead of her!

Now she was here she could seek it!

Somehow, she found her way out to the stands of the Hatching grounds. On the sands below lay the precious clutch, watched over by their golden mother. Desiree felt a gentle tug somewhere in her self, like she was being drawn to the eggs.

“Oh great mother of dragons, may I see your eggs?” she requested in a voice like the music of harps. The Queen lifted her head and gazed at her.

_“You may see them when the other candidates do.”_

“Mightn’t I see them now? They’re so beautiful.”

The dragon rumbled softly. _“You shall see them when the other candidates do.”_

Desiree gazed down at the eggs. One of them must be hers, she knew that by the call she could feel in her heart. Which one, she wondered? Was it to be one of the magnificent queens in their golden shells, or perhaps a delicate little green to match her own delicate disposition? Would it be one of the Hatchlings from the odd looking eggs she could see down there, or could it even be a fierce bronze?

_“Wait for me. I’ll be there,”_ Desiree promised the young dragon.

A tall, muscular, brown haired woman appeared on the stands. “You girl! Who are you and what are you doing here?”

“Oh, good morning ma’am,” Desiree said sweetly. “I’m Desiree Aimah Flameheart, I’m one of the candidates.”

Starlight Twinkle trilled from her shoulder. Desiree scratched her head and shushed her. The woman stared at her, and then turned around and shrieked shrilly. “K’res!”

It was such an awful sound Desiree feared the woman was being suddenly struck with some sickness or injury. “Are you alright?”

“K’res!” she screamed again. “Get your useless ass out here!”

“I- I’m sorry if I shouldn’t be out here, maybe if you point me to where I’m meant to be,” Desiree ventured. It had been so long since she was with other people that she had almost forgotten what normal behaviour was like. The woman continued to scream until at the Weyrleader, who Desiree had met last night when she arrived, appeared from wherever she had come from and hurried to her side.

“What’s going on?”

“You let another one in!” she shouted, jabbing her hand at Desiree, who blinked.

“What?”

“You let them bring another one of- of that kind in!”

“Ah. Well, not exactly.”

She narrowed her eyes. “What do you mean not exactly?”

“See, she actually arrived _before_ you said all that.”

The woman let out a huff that sounded like a snarl. “Fine. But no more, you hear me?”

Desiree edged forward a step. “Is she alright?”

The Weyrleader smiled and patted the woman’s shoulder. “She’s fine.”

The woman scowled and wrenched away from him. “Deal with her.”

“Of course love.”

“And don’t let her near the other girls. Put her in with the boys or the lower caverns or something. I don’t want a repeat of yesterday.”

“Of course.”

“What happened yesterday?” Desiree asked as the Weyrleader escorted her down to the dining hall. Since he was immediately sure he could trust this beautiful and mysterious strange girl, he explained that two of the female candidates had been killed recently, and there was an intruder on the island no one could catch.

All eyes were on her when she entered the dining hall. Desiree blushed a shy and delicate pink and followed the Weyrleader across the cavern, where he joined a grey haired bronzerider.

“Jalenna wants her kept away from the girls for now. I was hoping she could join your class.”

“Don’t know that putting a beautiful girl in a class of boys is a good idea K’res.”

“She’s got to go somewhere.” K’res dropped his voice to a whisper, though Desiree heard his next words anyway since her hearing was as sharp as a canine’s. “And I can’t just put her with the other girls anyway; Jalenna’ll throw a fit if I put her near Sirena.”

Desiree made a note of the name. This girl was evidently important to the Weyrleaders, so she’d be one to either get close to or watch out for.

“Aye, alright then.”

“Thank you.” The Weyrleader turned back to her. “Desiree, this is R’ton. He’s the candidate master for the boys. You will be in his class for the time being. R’ton, this is Desiree Aimah Flameheart. She’s all yours.”

Desiree sat with R’ton for breakfast and learnt a little more about the troubles and the mysterious man stalking the girls as well as the the deaths of two female candidates. _Murder_ , she wondered, looking out over the hall. Could one of those sat here now truly be a murderer?

After breakfast it was time for lessons, where they were studying dragon anatomy. Desiree she sat with Zoveanan, whose father and grandfather were both bronzeriders, and Ermut, a Holdbred runner boy. The other boys in the class were quickly jealous.

“Why don’t you come sit over here baby?” called Pucungrec, the son of some Lord Holder who thought himself very important. “I can show you some better company if you know what I mean.” He grinned and waggled his eyebrows. Desiree, who was an innocent and pure girl, leant close to Zoveanan.

“I… don’t know what he means.”

Zoveanan blushed furiously. “Explain later,” he muttered as R’ton was looking their way.

By the time two thirds of the class time had passed Desiree had impressed everyone with her great knowledge on dragons and edible plants, which she had gained from her Mysterious Book.

“Are there any questions?” R’ton asked. She raised her slender arm.

“Yes, Desiree.”

“Is there any information in the Weyr about Eeayarthach?”

“What?”

“Is there any information in the Weyr about Eeayarthach?”

“I have no idea what that is.”

“I think it’s where we came from. I want to go back there.”

“Try the library.”

“Thank you sir!”

“You’re welcome. Are there any other questions?”

There were not, and so the class was dismissed and filtered out for lunch. Desiree sat with her new friends Zaveanon and Ermut.

“Where’s the library?” she asked, her mind still on Eeayarthach.

“I’ll show you after lunch,” Zaveanon replied. Desiree smiled brightly.

“Thank you! You’re so kind!”

The rest of that day was quiet and filled with research at the library, where they came up frustratingly empty handed. Still, Desiree went to bed that night feeling warm and comfortable.

The following day at lunch, two teenagers she didn’t recognise entered the hall. The first was the most beautiful boy Desiree had ever seen, tall and muscular with a mop of messy black hair and the most dazzling emerald green eyes. At his shoulder was a girl who could be pretty if it wasn’t for her muscular physique. Both of them had yellowing bruises marring their faces, while the boy had a fading black eye. Desiree remembered a dream she had once flying over a land she didn’t know with a man whose face she couldn’t see, and recognised now that it was this boy, older and more weathered, but still him. She gazed at them as a red haired boy and another, slightly chubbier boy with dirty blonde hair hurried over to them.

“Who’s that?” she asked Zaveanon.

“Yariel and Dorasa. They’ve been in the infirmary; they were hurt yesterday.”

“Doing what?”

Zaveanon shrugged. “No one’s said.”

Desiree slid to her feet. “I’m going to talk to them.”

Zaveanon grabbed her arm. “Those two can be pretty… harsh.”

“I can handle it,” Desiree replied. This boy was, after all, part of her Great Destiny. She glided across the hall to the boy (and the random people with him) and he stared at her with those piercing emerald eyes. She blushed pink.

“Um. Hi.”

“Hi,” he grunted.

O, he even sounded beautiful! Desiree smiled shyly. The red haired girl looked her over somewhat critically. “New candidate?”

“Desiree Aimah Flameheart. I’m a candidate for the Queen eggs; I arrived last night.”

“Well, yes, so are most of the girls,” muttered the girl.

Yariel gave her a soft smile. “Nice to meet you. Do you want to sit with us?”

“Sure!”

They took seats at the end of one of the tables, with Desiree settling on Yariel’s left and the other girl on his right.

“So why aren’t you with the other girls?” asked the redhead. Do- something Zoveanan had called her.

“Oh, the Weyrleader thought it would be better to keep me apart and let me attend normal lessons. Why aren’t you?”

Do (aina? Riso?) frowned. “I’m Yariel’s shieldmaiden. Where he goes I go.”

“Weird,” muttered the red haired boy as Yariel blushed a deep scarlet.

“She was with me in the infirmary. I guess we missed whatever lockdown the Weyrleaders have put in place.”

“Such a shame,” muttered the girl, breaking a bread roll apart with her fingers.

“So where are you from?” Desiree asked.

“Porret Hold,” replied Yariel. The other two boys, Olareslay and Venile, she learnt, were both weyrbred. Olareslay even had three siblings standing at the same Hatching: his two older brothers and younger sister.

“How about you? Where are you from?”

“Well… It’s a bit of a long story.”

“We’ve got time to hear it.”

And so Desiree told them her tale of woe and mystery, from when she mysteriously woke on the Southern continent with no knowledge of how she ended up there and her fight for survival to her impression of her three beloved firelizards and finally her discovery by a great bronzerider, who brought her here to the Weyr.

“So you have no knowledge at all of where you come from?”

“None,” she replied sadly. “I can’t remember my parents or family, or where I came from. All I remember is whispers in the wind of my mother’s voice.”

Do-sumeting frowned. “But you said-”

“I am sure of one thing though, and that’s that my destiny – and perhaps my history - lies far from Pern, on Eeayarthach. I’m sure that one day I will find it and remember.”

“Right. Good luck with that,” drawled Do-somethin.

“I know what it’s like to have a destiny,” Yariel said in his gentle yet strong voice. “I would be honoured to help you follow yours.”

“Yariel.”

Destinee beamed. “O, would you?”

“T’would be my honour.”

“Yariel!”

She flung her arms around his neck and drew in the familiar and comforting smell of pine. “O, thank you.”

He held her close in a familiar and comforting way. She drew away from his arms. “I need to seek out the library for more information.”

He stood and took her delicate, slender hand in his, helping her to her feet. “Let us go there then.”

Yariel shooed the red haired girl away when she tried to follow. She watched after them with eyes Desiree was sure were only jealous.

Zaveanon and Ermut joined them and they spent all afternoon in the library, conveniently avoiding having to do any inconvenient chores and reading scroll after irrelevant scroll.

“O, how will we ever find any answers here?” Desiree bemoaned, collapsing delicately upon a conveniently placed beanbag.

“Never fear! We have time enough to search! Never back down!” announced Yariel.

He was so dashingly optimistic and useful. Moonbright light trilled from her shoulder, projecting pink-tinged thoughts and lovey emotions.

“Not now Moony,” Desiree scolded, scratching her on the head. “Can’t you see we’re busy?”

Soon enough the afternoon ended and they returned to the hall for supper. Desiree took her new friends to sit with the candidate master while the other candidates filled out around them and cooed over her firelizards. Four new ones had arrived she noticed, a girl and three boys. Three of them were siblings, two of the boys and the girl, while the other boy was the son of their father’s new wife. Desiree had a chance to speak to the girl, Brizala, that night, hoping a little for a girl friend (since clearly Do-whateva wasn’t forthcoming), but she was weirdly brash and uncomfortably… boyish. She even slipped out that night to be with her brothers.

Eh.

Desiree kinda liked being the centre of attention anyway.


	18. Demekia: One last hope.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I do not own the Dragonriders of Pern.

Running up to the dragonriders in the courtyard had been a spur of the moment thing, a moment of madness. It seemed like a perfect escape, a way to dodge her uncle, his demands, and her life as a Holdless tinker once and for all.

Now…

Not so much.

Most of those Searched were relatives of the Lord of the Hold, who had kept the riders busy in the main part of the Hold all day. It seemed bitterly unfair. Demekia, who had found some work in the Hold as a stableboy to give her shelter and food for a little while, would probably never have even got a chance if she hadn’t seen one of the riders and his dragon in the courtyard and ran out to them. She knew she didn’t look anything like what they were looking for, and, like everyone else, the rider immediately assumed her to be a boy. Knowing her chances of being chosen would go down significantly if she corrected him, she didn’t bother.

And so it was that Demek had arrived at Sunspyre Weyr a sevenday ago.

She was terrifyingly glad, now, that everyone thought her to be a boy. Most of the girls were… insane, or bizarre, and strange things were happening around them.

Dressed as a boy and part of their class, Demek felt much safer.

That was, at least, until Desiree Aimah Flameheart arrived.

Demekia never considered herself pretty: she was stick thin and flat as a sheet with sharp, boyish features and ugly, unnatural amethyst eyes to match her strange purple hair. People looked at her twice, but never for a good reason. Desiree Aimah Flameheart was the exact opposite of that. She was drop dead gorgeous, from her thick, knee length golden hair to her tiny, delicate toes (which Demek could see because one of the boys was currently giving her a foot rub). That was another note, all the boys seemed to love her. Wherever she went there seemed to be a constant flock of them around her, like a fair of firelizards. Maybe it was because she was so beautiful. Not all the boys were candidates either, many were weyrlings and there were even some bronzeriders who had fallen for her delicate charms, the candidate master included. Lessons appeared to have become The Desiree Act. It kinda made Demekia wish she had that kind of beauty. Then again, she would probably never get any peace.

She knew there was a reason she preferred the company of boys to girls.

Still, there was something about Desiree. Something… compelling and mysterious.

Demek sighed and shovelled another load of herdbeast dung into the wheelbarrow. Girls and their games were poison. She learnt that a long time ago when her sisters were still alive. Best she just keep her head down, her mouth shut, and wait it out until the Hatching. If her luck held she would come out of this with a new baby dragon.

… and then what?

Everyone would still think her a boy.

Well…

She guessed she could deal with that issue when she came to it.

There was some argument going on as she walked back up to the candidates’ barracks. Evidently not everyone was as taken with Desiree as it seemed. She was draped over Yariel like a garment while he argued with Dorasa.

“I don’t need you to look after me!”

“Two days ago proved that wrong baby brother.”

“Look, I get you’re my sister and you have no other friends, but just… stop hanging round me all the time.”

“I was literally walking away Yariel, you started this!”

His eyes shone gold. Demek had never been close enough before now to see how eerily frightening that truly made him look.

“You’re my sister, so I’ll give you one chance. Back off.”

Dorasa’s eyes flashed silver. “Don’t threaten me; you started this fight!”

The world around them seemed to shudder. “I said back off!”

The roar echoed inside Demek’s ears and head. She squeaked and hurried away, missing the rest of that argument.

The rest of that day was peaceful until suppertime, when two new girls arrived. One was on the younger end of the age spectrum for the girls, a small, slight waif of a thing with masses of silver hair, eerily silverish grey eyes and skin that looked like she’d never seen the sun. The other girl was a little older and taller, maybe closer to Demek’s own age, with a mop of messy scarlet hair, skin a funny olivish shade, and the strangest clothes she had ever seen in her life. A small, pale firelizard clung to her shoulders.

They chose to sit with Desiree, who was making it sound like she, Brizala, and Dorasa (who Demek couldn’t see anywhere) were the only other female candidates. By the look on the faces of the new girls, they were severely regretting their seating arrangements.

Then Desiree started off on another one of her great speeches, of which there had been at least four - that Demek knew of – since she arrived.

“Humans didn’t start their lives on Pern! There’s a vast universe out there, somewhere! All the way across the stars is our homeplace of Eeayarthach.”

“I’m sorry, where now?” asked the red haired girl. Desiree frowned at her.

“Eeayarthach.”

The red haired girl stared, and then collapsed into a giggling fit.

Yariel scowled. “It’s no laughing matter.”

The girl choked through her laugher. “It’s pronounced Ur-th.”

Desiree scowled. “That’s the stupidest thing I’ve ever heard.”

“Look, it really is pronounced Urth.”

“It’s a planet, not a dragon you wherryhead,” snapped Zaveanon, which was unlike the mild mannered bronzerider’s son from what Demek had seen of him. The red head waved her hand.

“Fine, fine, pronounce it your way.”

“My way is the correct way! I’ve been researching this using ancient notes and maps and my Mysterious Book!”

“Most ridiculous thing I’ve ever heard,” muttered the red haired girl as Desiree continued. 

“With some training, I can lead a trip _between_ return home to Eeayarthach and rebuild connections!”

Everyone applauded.

Demek sighed.

Fuck her life.

She skipped the start of class the following day to take a long bath. Everyone would only be fawning over Desiree anyway. Bathing in warm water was a nice luxuary after seven years of cold river water or buckets of ice. Demek had bathed twice a day since she arrived, though she was careful to only enter when the pool was empty and stay away from other boys. She soaked in the water for a short while and then climbed out, drying herself off and pulling on clean clothes. She combed her fingers through her hair, pulling out some of the tangles before heading to class.

When she got there her assumptions were proven correct. Demek slipped into a chair at the back of the classroom, alongside the two new girls, who had also joined the class. Dorasa, she noticed, was sat in the back corner looking sulky.

Over the long lesson that consisted of Desiree asking basic questions and being praised for them, Demek learnt that the red haired girl was Lily, and the younger one Luna. They weren’t related in spite of their vague resemblance and weird caginess about their backgrounds, and had in fact met when Lily saved Luna’s life by pulling her out of a river.

What was it with these female candidates having dramatic and tragic backstories?

The three of them left as soon as the lesson ended and Demek joined the girls in weeding the vegetable garden during the chores period.

“So what’s with Desiree anyway?” asked Lily. Demek shrugged.

“Not a clue. She’s just… odd.”

“That’s one way to put it.”

“She’s a very lost soul,” said Luna, which was the first thing Demek had heard her say (and also a little creepy).

Once they finished with their duties, they headed out for a stroll around the Weyrbowl, spending a quiet afternoon sketching in the sun and then helping one of the riders scrub his blue in the lake. It was a pretty colour, Demek thought, not at all like her ugly colouring. Blue like the sky, and the sea, and his rider’s eyes. Could she impress a blue, she wondered, and never have to be a girl again?

They took a roundabout, secluded path back to the weyr, enjoying the walk and the freedom. It was nice not to have to run. So caught up in chatting and laughter were they that they almost missed the voices from a secluded corner until they were nearly on top of them.

“Sounds like they want some privacy,” said Lily, pulling Luna back the other way. Demek’s burning curiosity was too much and she edged forwards to get a better look at what was going on.

Dorasa had Yariel pressed against a large rock, her arm against his midriff. “Listen to me. Something about this isn’t right.”

“You’re only jealous because I can make friends.”

“Yariel, think about this. We come out of the infirmary and suddenly she’s everyone’s golden girl, and you’re obliging her every whim. It’s not like you baby brother.”

He shoved her away and she stumbled backwards. “I warned you!”

“Yariel-”

“I told you to stay away from me!”

“No, you really didn’t.”

He wrapped his fingers around her neck and shook her. “We can’t hold onto each other forever! Grow up Dorasa! Desiree is my soulmate: deal with it.”

“Sairina was your soulmate.”

Again there was that shudder, like the entire world was shaking.

“Never mention her name.”

“Yariel-”

He turned on his heel and stormed away. Dorasa rubbed her neck. “Well, that went well.”

Demek edged forward. “Um. Are you alright?”

“Nothing hurt but my pride. How much of that did you see?”

“Enough.”

Lily stepped forward now Yariel was gone, still keeping Luna cautiously behind her. “That’s your brother isn’t it?”

Dorasa glanced in the direction he had gone as though nervous he might come back. “No.”

Lily blinked. “But I thought-”

“I don’t know what’s going on, but that was not my brother. Yariel would never talk to me like that, even when he’s mad at me. Which is often.”

Demek grinned. “Siblings, right?”

“Mm.”

“You’re right though. You were in the infirmary when she arrived, but it was like everyone just… immediately trusted and adored her. Like she has an aura or something. I mean, the Weyrleader and then R’ton pretty much gave her special treatment from the moment she got here.”

“She sounds like a bad fanfic character,” muttered Lily.

“Demon,” said Dorasa.

“What now?”

“It means she must be influencing people somehow, so that they like her. I’ve come across it before, just not so powerful.”

Demek’s developing frown deepened. “I guess that would make sense.”

“But it’s not affecting everyone. It’s not affecting me, or you three.”

Demek grinned. “Or the Weyrwoman from what I’ve heard. Apparently yesterday she was insisting Desiree be shipped out somewhere and she won’t allow her to impress one of her dragon’s children.”

“Male,” Dorasa said suddenly.

“What?”

“Everyone she’s influencing. They’re all male.”

Demek did some quick mental arithmetic. She was right. Dorasa squinted at her. “So why aren’t you affected?”

Demek raised her eyebrows.

“What?”

Demek glanced down at herself pointedly. Dorasa did a doubletake and looked her over. “Oh you have to be kidding me!”

“Nope.”

“You came in dressed as a boy? Why?”

“The riders made an assumption when they Searched me. I didn’t correct it.”

Dorasa muttered something that sounded weirdly like ‘haven’t seen that in ages.’

“So what do we do? About Desiree I mean? And your brother, I guess. It can’t be a good thing that she’s going round influencing people like that.”

Dorasa wet her lips. “Let’s go talk to the Weyrwoman.”

With some help from Jurdree they found her in the records room.

“Can we talk to you Weyrwoman?”

“Of course. Come through.” She beckoned them through to what looked like an office of sorts. Jurdree turned to go.

“Wait,” Dorasa called. “What do you think of Desiree?”

The look on her face said it all.

“Can you spare ten minutes Headwoman?”

“I could spare five, as long as this isn’t childish nonsense.”

“It isn’t.”

Jurdree gave them a curt nod and stepped into the office behind them.

“What’s all this about then?” asked the Weyrwoman.

“Desiree Aimah Flameheart,” replied Dorasa curtly. Weyrwoman Jalenna’s face wrinkled with distaste.

“Uh, don’t even start!”

“Have you noticed anything… strange since she arrived?”

“I’ve noticed nothing but strange since we started bringing candidates in. Especially you and your brother and your… being you.”

That was a decent way at trying to explain it Demek thought.

“There is nothing wrong with my brother and me!” protested Dorasa shrilly. Demek kicked her.

“Have you noticed anything about Desiree in particular?” she asked. The Weyrwoman sighed.

“I can’t be seen to show favourit-”

“Well, if you won’t Jalenna, I will!” snapped Jurdree. “That girl showed up and most of us ought to be out of a job! She’s better at cooking and running the lower caverns than me; she’s better at Healing than Savana; she’s better at leading than you! The only reason you’re here and not out in the bowl with Nareth is that she doesn’t seem to like doing actual work! Meanwhile, everyone seems to be flocking around her like she’s the best thing they’ve seen!”

Wow.

Demek hadn’t quite accounted for the Headwoman having quite so much… vitriol for the girl.

Neither had Dorasa, evidently, as she gaped silently at her.

“And all the while she keeps giving these great speeches about going out into the stars! From what I’ve seen the girl’s not even that intelligent! She’s a liability!”

Weyrwoman Jalenna blinked. “Are… are you done Jurdree?”

“Yes, I think so.”

“Do you… feel better now?”

“As a matter of fact I do.”

“Good. Yes, I had noticed all those things about the girl. But I’m the Weyrwoman, I’m not allowed to pick sides! It could influence the dragons’ choices or cause a rift in the Weyr.”

Dorasa ran a hand through her annoyingly long and pretty hair. “Weyrwoman, please listen to me. I think that girl – Desiree – I think she’s influencing people - mostly the men - mentally.”

The Weyrwoman frowned. “K’res has been acting strangely the last few days.”

“Yes, and so is my brother, as well as all the other male candidates. I’ve seen something like this before, though not quite as powerful.”

“And how was it dealt with the last time?”

Dorasa was frowning slightly and opening her mouth to open when the door flew open and a man in bronzerider’s badges rushed inside.

“Excuse me- Weyrwoman-”

“What is it I’rus?”

“The- The intruder- He’s been cau- caught. They’re ho- holding him in- in the weyrbowl.”

Weyrwoman Jalenna sprang to her feet. “This will have to wait.”

“Convenient,” muttered Lily.

“Desiree?” Demek asked as they followed the Weyrwoman from the office.

“Could be,” Dorasa agreed.

“What do we do about her?”

“The other ones we put a blade through their heart. That normally frees those under their influence.”

Demek felt the blood drain from her face and Lily turned a funny shade of yellowish green. Luna remained calm faced.

“We’re not doing that,” Lily said.

“It would fix things.”

“It would be literally murder.”

“She’s not human; she’s a… demon… thing.”

“We’re not putting a sword through her heart.”

Dorasa huffed. “Fine.”

The five of them followed the Weyrwoman and Headwoman out to the Weyrbowl, where a large number of people were gathering. In the centre Desiree was weeping in Yariel’s arms, being comforted by her friends and the Weyrleader. Demek could almost feel the hatred rolling off Dorasa. To one side was a tall, thin man being held by two burly brown riders.

“What’s going on here?” called Weyrwoman Jalenna. Weyrleader K’res smiled back at her.

“Desiree and her friends have caught the intruder and fake. You needn’t worry yourself with this my love; Desiree and I are dealing with it.”

“K’res, I do need to know what is going on in my own Weyr.”

Lily leant closer to Demek. “What’s the plan for dealing with Miss Fanfic Demon?”

Demek glanced at Dorasa.

“I could always-”

“No,” she and Lily said as one.

“Are you sure?”

“We’re sure.”

“It would be easiest.”

“It would be literal murder.”

“Fine. A good shock could snap Yariel out of it; pity Mia’s still shut up.” Dorasa eyed the thing that looked like such a beautiful woman draped over her brother and then mouthed something at the Weyrwoman, tipping her head at the two of them. Jalenna stepped forward.

“Desiree, tell me what happened.”

Desiree howled and threw herself into the waiting arms of K’res. “Oh, it w-was terrible! He- he- he- he grabbed me and he was calling me all these terrible things-”

Dorasa seized one of Yariel’s shoulders and a handful of his hair, yanking him back towards her and slapping him hard. He turned on her, slapping her back. “I warned you!”

“That woman is a demon, like Zaifon!”

“She is my soulmate!”

“Sairina was your soulmate!”

“She was a fraud and a fake!”

“She died for you! That one’s just using you!”

Again there was that shudder, except this time everything seemed to be shuddering.

“Never speak ill of her!”

“She is a demon manipulating you!”

There was a weird tingling sensation, a sense that the entire world was being twisted, and then a crack and a boom like thunder, and suddenly Dorasa was flying except Demek had never seen her feet leave the ground. She twisted her body in the air, almost feline-like if a cat had been fifteen foot up in the air, and came down thirty feet away.

She didn’t get up again.

Several things happened at once.

Lily started screaming.

Yariel began to shake – and – was he glowing?

The Weyrleader started shaking his head and looking at the thing in his arms.

Desiree – or whatever she was – turned slightly towards Yariel and opened her delicate pink lips.

Demek let out a shout and started sprinting towards Dorasa – which, in retrorespect, might have been the safest place.

There was an angered roar, like an animal, or the sea screaming. The air around her felt… heavy, like she was trying to run through water, or in a dream. She dropped to the ground beside Dorasa. Her lip was split and crimson blood was seeping through her already scarlet hair.

“Are you alright?”

Stupid question.

Fardling stupid question.

Dorasa groaned. “I’ve been better.”

Yariel was definitely glowing. Desiree smiled and held a hand out towards him. “It’s alright my love,” she said, her voice beautiful music to Demek’s ears. “I’m sure we’ll be saf-”

Weyrwoman Jalenna hit her over the head with a rock.

Desiree crumpled gracefully to the ground into a delicate heap.

Lily continued screaming.

Yariel shook his head and the glowing and weirdness came to an end.

Desiree’s three firelizards fluttered frantically around her before landing on her head shoulders, and her body sorta… vanished, as though she had never been there.

Yariel stood still for a moment and then started to run, rushing to their side. “Dorasa!”

She pushed herself up. Demek pushed her down. “You… probably shouldn’t move.”

“We’re a little tougher than most people.”

“He threw you like thirty feet!”

Yariel dropped to the ground. “I-” He paused, his cheeks flushing pink. “What have I been doing?”

Dorasa clasped his shoulder. “Trust me baby brother, you don’t want to know. Can I go back to the infirmary where it’s safe now?”

And Lily was still screaming.


	19. Interlude

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I do not own the Dragonriders of Pern.

Desiree Aimah Flameheart had simply vanished, as though her firelizards had managed to blink her _between_. Jalenna had never heard of that happening before.

“Where do you think she went?” asked Zoveanan.

“I… don’t know,” replied Jalenna, as bewildered as everyone else there.

Desiree awoke with a splitting headache. She lifted a delicate hand to her head and rubbed at it, puzzled. The last thing she remembered was the blow, and pain, and begging her beloved firelizards to help her-

And then what?

She remembered wanting them to take her somewhere safe.

So was that where she was now?

She touched her side to make sure her Mysterious Book was still safe and pushed herself up. Starlight Twinkle, Moonbright Light, and Sunrise fluttered around her.

“You saved me,” she cooed as they darted down to land on her, trilling softly.

Silver flashes shone in the near distance. Desiree shielded her beautiful eyes with one slender hand. Her firelizards shrieked defiance and gave her images of Thread.

Thread falling!

She glanced around, but this was a barren and rocky land, devoid of any shelter. Desiree sprang to her fit and slender legs and started to run.

Starlight Twinkle, Moonbright Light, and Sunrise lived happily ever after.


	20. Mia: If Only

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I do not own the Dragonriders of Pern.

It was five days before they were finally released from their confinement in the empty Queen’s Weyr. It was probably a good thing it happened then. Mia was pretty sure some of the girls were going stir crazy and about to kill each other.

Apparently they had missed a lot while they were in there. J’kon had been bringing them updates of what was happening, and those with firelizards had been receiving messages and information, but they still felt very isolated. Four new girls had arrived while they were in there, but they weren’t allowed to meet for fear of a repeat of what happened with Daisuke. Naeressa still hadn’t turned up after that debacle, so maybe that fear was warranted. All the girls (yes, even Jakeiria and Kuyaran) were beginning to worry about what had happened to her. J’kon had gone out to fetch supplies on the third day and never returned. According to Sinna, who brought their food at lunchtime, he had been pulled in to some fool’s errand by R’ton and one of the new girls, Desiree Aimah Flameheart.

Ridiculous name she had.

The next they heard Desiree Aimah Flameheart had been removed from candidacy and the man (who was indeed this Lord Laff of Indigo’s) had been caught and was being dealt with.

Also Dorasa was back in the infirmary.

Still, it was nice to no longer be confined within that weyr. Most of the girls headed out to the Weyrbowl to get some air, but Mia made her way down to the infirmary, where Yariel (and another boy) were sat with Dorasa. Yariel looked like he hadn’t slept in days, his skin ash white and large bags under his eyes, while Dorasa seemed to be bruised… everywhere. Every part of her skin that Mia could see was a mottled pattern of black and blue.

“Mia!” she called. Mia hurried over to the bed.

“Faranth’s egg Dorasa! You look terrible!”

“Thanks.”

“I- Sorry. What happened?”

Dorasa and Yariel proceeded to tell her some long story about how the new girl that had left was a deemorn who tried to steal Yariel away, and how Dorasa had drawn Yariel into hitting her to snap him out of it.

“That was deliberate?” exclaimed the other boy, a thin, waifish creature with – for some reason – purple hair.

“I told you a good shock could snap him out of it; I gave him one.”

“I thought he was going to kill you!”

Dorasa waved her hand lazily.

“You could have warned me!”

She shrugged. Mia sighed. That was so much like the two of them!

“So this… deemorn, this Desiree, she’s gone?”

“She’s gone,” agreed Dorasa. “I still say I should have put my blade through her heart though.”

Demek got to his feet. “I better get back to the barracks.”

“Don’t you want to-” started Dorasa, only for him to shake his head.

“No thank you. I came here for a new life, not whatever insanity this is.”

Dorasa laughed as the boy slipped out. Mia shook her head. “I thought you two came here to get away from all this hero-ing stuff.”

“We’re not looking for the heroing, it just finds us,” replied Yariel. Mia laughed nervously and shook her head.

“Tell it no! There are more important things – friendship and bravery-”

“You mean qualities for a dragonrider Mia?” asked Dorasa with a spark in her emerald eyes.

“I- I- I-”

“Someone had to do something about Desiree. It ended up being us. Tell you what, you can do the next one.”

Mia groaned.

Here we go again.

With the presence of the new girls there had to be some rearranging in the sleeping chambers, with Princess Lilyen Adalicia Midnight graciously moving into Naeressa’s (who had yet to return or be found) chamber and the three sisters taking her room. Kuyaran muttered and grumbled and moved in with Sirena and Revina, with Lily and Luna taking her chambers while lucky Brizala got to share with Jakeiria.

J’kon never returned as candidate master (Mia suspected the Weyrwoman had something to do with that) and the girls were to join R’ton’s lessons with the boys (again) until a replacement could be found (again). Dorasa was released from the infirmary the following day, her bruising already mottling yellow as though it had happened weeks ago instead of days. Mia knew better than to ask. She had seen those two shrug off beatings in a matter of hours, knife and sword wounds in a matter of a sevenday and concussions in a matter of days. As beaten and bruised as Dorasa had been, she was sure the injuries meant nothing to her. Yariel slept on the floor of their chambers the night she was released, and the following night too. No one said anything about it.

The days had passed in a far too quiet and peaceful manner, which is why when the screaming started, it made her jump but wasn’t a surprise. Yariel and Dorasa drew their swords.

“We don’t have to-” Mia started, but they had already started moving towards the sound. At the other side of the Weyrbowl, where Sirena had been helping a greenrider oil his dragon, she and the rider were doing the same. Mia sighed, checked her knife, and followed after her friends.

The screaming was coming from one of the youngest male candidates, a trader boy of twelve called Lendeer with a mass of orange curls, who was down on the beach and pointing at a heap of fabric and colour tangled in the rocks.

It took Mia a moment to work out what she was looking at, and then she had to resist the urge to scream herself. It wasn’t the first time she had seen death of course, but when she saw it at Garange Hold the dead would look peaceful and human, not… not that mashed up mangled lump of flesh with rainbow coloured hair still tangled around it.

Mia wrapped an arm around Lendeer and guided him tactfully away towards the path back to the island as more riders and curious onlooked began to arrive.

And Yariel and Dorasa still hadn’t sheathed their weapons.

She took Lendeer through to the kitchens and made him a steaming mug of klah, settling with him in front of the fire. They sat there and sipped at the klah until he at last broke the silence.

“She were dead, that woman.”

“Yes.”

“She were already dead when I seed her.”

“Yes.” And long before that, Mia suspected.

“Why’d her die?”

“I don’t know,” Mia replied, but that was a lie. She remembered the way Daisuke hurled Naeressa over the ledge in the weyr, how she vanished from their sight, how soon they all settled and forgot about her when she was gone. They should have done more to look for her, to look out for her, but they were all too busy thinking about themselves and sulking locked up in the empty Queen’s weyr. Even after they were let out they had done nothing to look for or help her.

“D’you thinkit hurt?”

“Probably.”

“Will I be in trouble?”

“Why would you?”

“Cos I made such a fuss.”

“I don’t think you’re going to be in any trouble.” Mia took another sip of her klah. “And if they try to make you, blame it all on me.”

Lendeer giggled. “Do you think they’ll shut you all up again?”

“Shards, I hope not!”

She’d had quite enough of that.

They were eventually called in by the Weyrleaders to give their side of the story, what little of it there was. Lendeer explained he had seen the colour while paddling in the sea and gone to see what it was, while Mia told them she had simply seen what was going on and taken Lendeer to calm him down.

“When was the last time you saw that girl, ah, Naeressa was it?” asked K’res.

“Yes. I haven’t seen her since the day Daisuke blasted her off the weyrledge.”

“I see. Very well, thank you for your help and cooperation.”

“What’ll happen to her now?” asked Lendeer. The Weyrwoman frowned.

“We’ll try and find out if she had any family to return her body to. If not, she will be taken _between_ as is the tradition.”

Lendeer nodded and wiped a hand across his eyes. Mia took his wrist. “Come on.”

Naeressa’s death was the talk of the candidates, and, like her, they had many regrets that they never tried to find out what happened to her or look for her after they were released from the weyr. Diazaikko-Lovea’s eyes turned to grey and she wept softly.

“Poor Naeressa,” murmured Annaliessa, quiet and solemn for once.

“We should have done more to help her,” murmured Indigo, a sentiment shared by all of them.

“She was probably killed when Daisuke hit her,” Dorasa said rather tactlessly. Sirena frowned at her.

“We don’t know that.”

“No, but Naeressa was tough. If she’d survived it, she’d have come back.”

“She does have a point,” muttered Kuyaran.

By the following day the topic of conversation had turned to something they had all almost forgotten about amongst all the chaos: the first egg touching. Sirena, Kuyaran, and Revina were being attacked with questions about what it was like. Sirena gave warnings about being careful around the eggs and to show proper respect to Nareth, the mother of the clutch, while Revina was much more… poetic, giving vivid descriptions of how wonderful the eggs were.

R’ton explained the procedures to them in class. “The girls standing for gold will be taken onto the sands first, to view the gold eggs. Since there is currently no candidate master for the girls, Weyrwoman Jalenna will be the one to guide you onto the sands. Once you have seen the gold eggs, those of you willing to stand for green as well may view the rest of the eggs and I will bring the boys and those girls only standing for green onto the sands.”

It sounded very well organised. Mia hoped that it actually worked out that way. She lay asleep for a long time that night, whether due to excitement or nerves, unable to rest.

“Mia, please go to sleep,” muttered Yariel. Dorasa was already asleep, still healing from her ordeal.

“Sorry. I’m just… excited and worried.”

“What is there to be worried about?”

“What isn’t there? Since I’ve got here one thing after another has gone wrong. What if something happens tomorrow, like- like one of us breaks an egg, or Thread starts falling, or- or-”

“Mia. No one is going to break an egg, and if something goes wrong Dorasa and I will be there. Please go to sleep.”

Mia did, but she slept fitfully and was still tired in the morning when she woke. Still, the buzzing excitement of the other candidates was contagious and she tried to stop her worry as she ate breakfast.

Finally the time came and the girls standing for gold followed the Weyrwoman out onto the sands.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Author’s Note  
> It was always the plan to kill Naeressa off, though she wasn’t originally meant to go like this. However, it made no sense to me character or plot wise to have her survive one life threatening event only to be killed off by another.


	21. Cataeliana: Stars

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I do not own the Dragonriders of Pern.

The sands were hot, burning hot, even through her boots. Whispers and feelings that she couldn’t quite identify danced around her. Cataeliana’s discomfort bounced back to Ketielean, who was – for once – waiting with the other boys, since Sirena had made it abundantly clear that ‘whichever one of you is the boy has to wait with the other boys. It wouldn’t be fair on them otherwise.’ Still, it didn’t feel natural to be so far apart from him. Cat couldn’t remember the last time they had so much distance and so many walls between them. She could feel Ket’s discomfort at the separation amplifying her own, as well as the dull pain from the hot sands.

_‘I don’t like this.’_

_‘Me either.’_

The thoughts bounced back and forth between them, increasing her anxiety.

Nareth’s great form loomed over her precious golden eggs protectively. Each of the girls cursied neatly to her as they passed. She rumbled softly, judging their acceptability to her prized golden daughters and other children. Cat could feel her protectiveness and love for the eggs, her adoration of her rider, and a gentle compassion that seemed to be aimed towards Sirena.

And then for a split second – no, less than a second, a flash, an instant – there was something else.

Pain.

Panic.

Horror.

Heartbreak.

It felt like her heart was being torn apart inside her chest.

It was all over in less than a second, but in that time Cat had stumbled and fell to her knees in the hot sand. Several tears rolled down her cheek. She heard Ket’s voice cry out from somewhere inside her head and the calls of some of the other girls, but somehow couldn’t bring herself to move even though that terrible, awful feeling was gone now. It felt like she was paralysed, still feeling that awful flash of-

Something.

There were footsteps, and a familiar voice called to her. “Cataeliana. Is everything alright?”

Cat finally managed to scramble to her feet and stared up at the Queen dragon, half expecting to feel that terrible flash of pain and heartbreak again.

She didn’t.

“I’m sorry,” she whispered, the words pouring out of her. “I’m sorry, I’m so sorry.”

With that she turned and bolted, fleeing back over the sands, careful not to knock into any of the outlying eggs.

_‘I’m coming.’_

_‘Yes.’_

She barely noticed when she was off the hot sands, keeping on running until she ran straight into Ket coming the other way, sending both of them crashing to the ground. Shock from the impact jolted through them. She felt the pain from his elbow hitting the ground and he felt her hands scrape against the rough stone. They stared at each other.

_‘Did you feel that?’_

_‘Yes I felt it.’_

_‘What was that?’_

_‘Don’t know.’_

_‘No.’_

It was only then she sensed R’ton, who had followed Ket from the cavern where the boys and three sisters standing for green were waiting.

“Is something happening in there?” he asked roughly. Cat shook her head shakily: it was about all she could manage.

“Then you ought to be at the touching girl.”

She shook her head again. How could she go back in there, back to those hot sands and that Queen dragon and the heartbreak? How could she go back?

R’ton sighed and held a hand out. Normally candidates fled at the Hatching itself, not the egg Touchings.

“I’ll take you out with the boys.”

She didn’t react and didn’t take his hand, but did manage to limp to her feet, pulling her brother with her. The two of them followed him back to where the male candidates were waiting. Seeing Cat, a few of them stood.

“Is it our turn now?” asked one.

“Not yet.”

“But what’s she doing here then?” whined Dralyoco.

“None of your business,” grunted the candidate master.

“But-”

“Leave it!”

It was another few minutes before she could find any strength and get her voice back. She fixed her eyes on the candidate master.

_‘Do we tell him?’_

_‘We should.’_

_‘We should.’_

They rose as one and wove their way between the other candidates to stand in front of R’ton.

“How you feeling girl?” he asked, as if he knew which one of them was which.

“B-b-bet-tter,” said Ket, the word still clumsy from shock.

“Good.”

Cat wet her mouth and reminded herself to speak aloud and not mentally. “S-s-sum-something t-terrible is going to happen,” she managed, barely a whisper. R’ton frowned.

“What was that?”

Cat swallowed.

_‘Again?’_

_‘Again.’_

_‘Again.’_

“S-something t-terrible is g-going to h-happen.” Her voice sounded stronger this time, more like her.

“Well, we’ve certainly had enough of that. Do you know what?”

Cat couldn’t answer.

R’ton’s eyes glazed momentarily and then he began calling for the candidates to line up. It was their turn to enter for the Touching. Ket squeezed Cat’s hand.

_‘Are you good?’_

_‘I’m good.’_

_‘Will you manage?’_

_‘I will manage.’_

_‘We’ll manage.’_

_‘We’ll manage.’_

They joined one of the lines and followed back out to the sands. The heat hit them like a wall, and this time the discomfort was bounced back and forth between them. With both of them there she could hear the whispers better, tickling at the back of her mind. Cat half expected to feel that dreadful terror and heartbreak a second time, but this time there was nothing. She didn’t dare go back towards Nareth and her golden daughters though, instead staying amongst the other, mottled eggs. There were three that seemed to be attracting the most interest amongst the boys: one which was bigger even than the two Queen eggs and two more which were smaller, but amongst the biggest in the clutch.

“They’ll be bronzes,” one boy said excitedly. One of the other boys, Dralyoco, was stroking the huge egg possessively, his eyes coveting and full of desire. Cat gazed at the large egg. There was… something, a desire, a need.

_‘Do you feel that?’_

_‘Yes I feel that.’_

They drifted over to reach for the egg, the feeling of curiosity bouncing between them.

“Back off!” snapped Dralyoco. “Bronzes don’t impress girls or girly boy freaks.”

“Pretty sure they don’t go for stuck up daddy’s boys either,” snapped another of the weyrbred boys who had been looking at the egg.

“Boys!” snapped R’ton. “The young dragons should have the chance to sense all of you.”

Cat reached for the egg. It felt strangely leathery. The whispers grew louder, echoed feelings that bounced around behind her eyes and made her itch. She rubbed at her leg as Ket scratched at his neck.

_‘Feels itchy.’_

_‘Yes.’_

Dralyoco scowled at them and muttered something that sounded like ‘when my father finds out.’ Ket ran his own hands over the egg and the whispers grew louder still.

“Freaks,” muttered Dralyoco.

The other candidates had scattered across the sands. Many of the boys were clustered around the bigger eggs, Those girls that were only hoping for a Queen had left, but others were joining those few boys looking at the smaller eggs that might contain greens.

Cat hated to leave The Whispering Egg, but there were other boys coming over now and R’ton said they should see all the eggs. Besides, there could only be one dragon in the egg, and there were two of them. They moved away from it and drifted amongst the other eggs of the clutch. Sirena had stopped beside one of the two smallest eggs in the clutch and was kneeling running her hands over the shell with her eyes closed.

_‘What’s she doing?’_

_‘Not sure.’_

They passed her by in favour of stopping at some of the other eggs ignored by the candidates, those too small to be of interest to the boys and too big for the girls. They whispered a little, but it was like listening to echoes, too distant to identify, too weak to hang onto. Cat was constantly aware of the large Queen, keeping carefully away from her rainbow gaze and still remembering that one awful moment of dreadful piercing fear.

All too soon it was all over and they were gathered up and herded from the sands. Many candidates gave one last look back. Cat and Ket were careful to keep their gaze fixed ahead.

Back in the girls’ barracks they approached Sirena with their concerns, the memory of that terrifying flash of pain and heartbreak still echoing inside their heads even if the shock of it had faded.

“Something dreadful is going to happen,” they said, their voices stronger when they spoke together. Sirena frowned and glanced between them.

“Do you know what?”

“No.”

“Or when?”

“No.”

“Right. Well, I’ll keep a watch, but without knowing what I can’t put out a warning.”

“Isn’t there anything you can do?”

“I can’t warn my mother against unspecified ‘bad things.’”

That was… understandable. But still…

Cat felt that horrific heartache every time she closed her eyes. It jarred her awake again when she tried to sleep that night, this time with a flash of bronze and red, silver and bronze behind her eyes.

She tried to tell herself it was an image created because they were afraid of the feeling, but something in her said otherwise.

Something terrible was going to happen.

She had felt it.


	22. Azizelia: How Can I refuse

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Author’s Note  
> I do not own the Dragonriders of Pern. All rights belong to their rightful owners.

_“I have found a perfect one!”_ Tarleth announced triumphantly to his rider, K’renen, as Lord Varosh introduced yet another irrelevant minor relative. Across the hall, his Search partner, P’nes, was still flirting with the Lord’s only daughter, a tall, beautiful young woman with a mass of golden blonde curls. At least she had power aplenty. Of all the other teenagers, nearly teenagers, and young adults Lord Varosh had paraded in front of them, only one was a semi-suitable candidate, a small, thin boy with pale hair and paler eyes who Varosh had crossly dismissed to prepare.

_“You have? Is it one of Lord Varosh’s children?”_

_“No. She just came out into the courtyard.”_

K’renen smiled, excused himself to the Lord, and hurried out to meet with his dragon. He was laid happily in the sunlight by the fountain with Usleth, P’nes’s blue dragon. Both were crooning happily, and K’renen felt the joy and love wash over him.

With them was a petite girl who could have been anything between eleven and eighteen wearing a plain, threadbare dress that only really covered the necessary parts of her. She had no boots on her feet, even in the High Reaches cold. Her hair was a dirty brown and cut raggedly at her chin, yet still long enough to be twisted into a pretty design around her head. From a dirt smudged face peeped large, almost luminious purple eyes. In one hand she held a a brush, with the other she scrashed Tarleth’s eyeridge.

“Her?” asked P’nes from behind him. “But she’s just a drudge!”

“My mother was a drudge,” K’renen replied. “What’s your name girl?”

“Azizelia,” replied the girl with a voice like music.

Azizelia was a girl who had a Dark and Troubled Past. Her parents were cruel and wicked people, haunted by their own Dark and Troubled Pasts. Many nights would young Azizelia weep herself to sleep on her thin blanket under the black sky, comforted only by a flock of wild firelizards who also helpfully kept her warm and stopped her from wandering off into the Deep Dark Woods as four year olds left alone in the middle of the night are apt to do. Luckily for Azizelia, her terrible parents would die in an unnamed but undoubtedly tragic accident when she was but seven, and she was taken in by her mother’s mother, an even crueller and wickeder woman jealous of Azizelia’s youth and beauty who would beat the young girl daily, make her do all the work around the croft, force her to sleep with in the shed with the bovines (which was actually a step up) and make her eat all of her cold, salty broth on a lunchtime. Luckily for Azizelia, her grandmother would tire of child abuse when the child was but ten, and sell her to Lord Varosh’s Head Steward as a drudge, where she had been ever since, encountering hardships such as scarcity of food, yet more beatings (which she was pretty used to tbh), and hard, back-breaking work sometimes for twenty hours a day.

Of course, none of this was known to our hero K’renen, or to the story, and will almost certainly never be mentioned again unless Azizelia needs sympathy or pity for her Dark and Troubled Past or as an excuse for her to do something cruel, inconsiderate, injurious, hurtful, edgy, or dangerously cool.

“It’s nice to meet you Azizelia.”

She blushed. “It’s nice to meet you too sir.” She glanced cutely down at the brush in her delicate hand. “I need to get back to work.” Quickly, she hurried across the courtyard. K’renen held a hand out to her. “Wait- Azizelia!”

She turned back to him with a puzzled look on her face.

“The dragons say you have power aplenty. Would you like to come away on Search?”

Her eyes widened at this statement. “M-me sir?”

“Impossible,” said the Ranking girl still with P’nes. “She’s a filthy drudge, nothing more.”

“The dragons have chosen and the dragons are never wrong,” K’renen said firmly. “Azizelia is my candidate.”

The ranking girl sniffed crossly. “Ridulous.”

Azizelia gazed up at him. “You want me? Truly?”

K’renen smiled. “Truly.”

“But I am just a drudge. I’m worthless.”

“Not to the dragons. The dragons are never wrong. It’s your choice, but if you say yes, then when you’re ready and you have all you want to bring, you will come away with us to SunSpyre Weyr. You will take lessons to learn how to care for a young dragon, and when the time comes, you will stand on the sands with the other candidates.”

Azizelia’s lilac hued eyes had misted over with tears at this imagery. She smiled sweetly. “I would love to come.”

“That’s wonderful! We leave in three hours, so you have time to gather all you need. Meet us back here.”

“Can- Can I just stay here? I have nothing to bring with me.”

“Nothing at all?”

Azizelia hung her head. “No sir.”

“Then stay here with the dragons. They seem to enjoy your company.”

“Thank you sir. Thank you so much.”

“There’s no need to thank me. You were chosen.”

K’renen had to return to the party and socialising, but it all seemed very droll and boring after meeting Azizelia. P’nes, of course, chose the beautiful Ranking girl as a candidate, and they found another in the shape of her cousin, Zindyl. They gathered in the courtyard come the afternoon to load candidates and trunks onto the dragons. Azizelia gazed none too fondly back at the Hold. “What if I don’t impress?”

“You can stand for clutches until you age out. And we’re at the start of a Fall, so there will likely be plenty of clutches.”

“Can I stay at the Weyr? Even if I don’t ever impress?”

“Of course. The Weyr only runs because of its staff. Hold on tight now, off we go!”

Azizelia clung to him as Tarleth leapt into the air, his great wings carrying him aloft. The ground grew small beneath them. And so it was that Azizelia set off to a new life at the Weyr, for once looking forward to the life ahead of her and leaving behind her Dark and Troubled Past once and for all.


	23. Annaliessa: A spoonful of sugar

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I do not own the Dragonriders of Pern.

The Weyr was incredible! There were dragons everywhere here, green, blue, brown, bronze, and the four great Queens. In addition, there were firelizards everywhere, the little creatures flitting about all over the island.

And everyone here was so friendly!

No one shouted at her unless she was doing something wrong!

There were full, proper meals everyday!

She had new, good clothes to wear!

Sometimes Annaliessa thought sadly about the forty one point seven six girls she had left behind at the orphanage, but she soon put them out of her mind, thinking only of the great future ahead of her.

There were two great golden eggs on the sand, three if you counted the strange one. Many more of the clutch would be greens, more chances to impress!

Annaliessa was fairly sure she had never been so happy.

Sure, some of the other candidates were a bit… odd, like Yornam with her flock of firelizards who insisted she was born running, Sakura and her sisters who many of the candidates were sure they had seen floating sometimes, Dorasa and her brother who had glowing eyes and matching tempers, and, talking of eyes, Diazaikko-Lovea whose eyes changed colour like dragons depending on how she was feeling.

So yeah.

There were some strange people here.

It was the Weyr though, home of the dragons and the dragonfolk. It was never going to be like at home, where she had to constantly go hungry and care for thirty nine point six younger orphans. She was one of the younger ones here instead of the oldest, and as such had less responsibility than some of the older ones. Sirena also told her that if she didn’t impress at this Hatching, she could stay and stand at later Hatchings until she either Impressed or aged out.

She never had to go back to her dull, boring life ever again!

The next girl to arrive was Arwen Raven Nightshade, who was one of the older girls at twenty years old. Like so many of the girls – and Annaliessa herself - she was stunningly beautiful. She wore black and green wherskin that hugged her slender form, showing off her perfect curves. Her hair was as black as deep night with deep green streaks, framing a sharp, beautiful face with a slim nose, thin lips, and almond shaped scarlet red eyes. The air around her always seemed to be colder than the surrounding area.

Dorasa immediately declared her to be a demon from the depths of _between_ , but Annaliessa was a good and sweet girl who liked to think the best of people. She was sure there must have been a good reason for her throwing Indigo and Solaris’s belongings out of their chambers and moving her own things in. She probably just misunderstood! Sirena and Kuyaran responded to it by dumping all her things in the Weyrbowl and moving Indigo’s back in.

Arwen Raven Nightshade swore a bloody and violent vengeance upon them.

Sirena made her Princess Lilyen Adalicia Midnight’s roommate. Princess Lilyen Adalicia Midnight accepted that with her usual delicate grace.

Two days letter she was asking to swap out with someone or move in with someone else.

“It’s always cold around her. And I keep finding bugs in my bunk and shoes,” she confessed to Annaliessa. Annaliessa spoke to Ritilia, who agreed to let her move into their room with them. Princess Lilyen Adalicia Midnight might be a little odd, but she had a good heart.

Sakura and her sisters and Indigo and her siblings, who had the chambers either side of Arwen Raven Nightshade,, also said the walls they shared with her were always cold, and the firelizards now refused to enter the girls barracks. As, oddly, did Cat and Ket, who switched into the boys’ barracks.

“She makes us uncomfortable,” one of them said when asked. Annaliessa wasn’t sure which one it was. She did feel it was a little unfair though. Arwen Raven Nightshade made all of them uncomfortable, and they didn’t all get to move out to the boys’ quarters.

The candidates were arriving slower now, though they were still being brought in. As of right now there were twenty five girls and forty three boys.

“For any other clutch there would be more than enough candidates now. But with seventy eggs, we don’t even have enough for all the eggs out there, even counting us girls in the number,” Sirena said.

“Doesn’t help that the candidates keep dying,” Kuyaran replied. “The other Weyrs are wary to send us their help.”

“We can manage by ourselves; we don’t need their help,” snapped Revina. Sirena sighed.

“It would make things easier though. Dragons must impress, and we don’t have enough candidates.”

“Can’t we help?” Annaliessa asked. She was a kind and helpful girl, and she didn’t want to see dragons die because there wasn’t anyone there to Impress.

“No. The dragons must choose suitable candidates, and they come from outside the Weyr, on the mainland.”

Annaliessa sighed heavily. “So there’s nothing we can do?”

“No. Mother will make sure we have enough candidates, one way or another.”

The next candidates to arrive were sixteen year old Kimberlee Livane Passion, her younger brothers Imijin and Milenin, and her best friend Donerlay. Kimberlee was nice enough, even if everything she did was better than Annaliessa in every way. She could run faster, climb higher, answer every question asked, and backflip like six feet (which was pretty awesome). Since the twins were now rooming with the boys, she took their room.

She shared Annaliessa’s heart and love for adventure and action, merrily agreeing to join her in exploring and climbing the cliffs of the island. Donerlay came with them as well, although he seemed to be afraid of everything and constantly tripping over. He was funny though, and said the silliest things. His runt brown firelizard, Fuss, spent most of his time crawling under his jacket.

Kimberlee’s younger brothers, meanwhile, were terrors on two legs. If Annaliessa took all forty three point eight of the small children she cared for at the orphanage, put all their ability to make trouble into two beings and then tripled their intelligence, they…

Yeah, they still wouldn’t be anywhere near Imijin and Milenin. Those boys were a force of destruction. On the day of their arrival they tried to create a device that would cut the vegetables for them, which got them banned from the kitchen. Today they had managed to steal an agonthee sprayer and tried to make it cover a greater distance. They made it… explode. Somehow.

Annaliessa was not a fan of Imijin and Milenin.

Neither was Kimberlee.

Nor was she a fan of Arwen Raven Nightshade, who she developed an almost instant animosity/competition/weirdly sexually suggestive relationship with. Annaliessa decided it wasn’t really her place to ask about it.

The next set of candidates arrived in the middle of the night, the noise from outside the room waking Annaliessa.

“Be quiet, the other girls are sleeping,” she heard Sirena’s voice say.

“Other girls? I’m expected to share space like a commoner?”

“Here at Sunspyre everyone shares.”

“Ugh. Which room is mine?”

“You can share here with Kimberlee.”

Annaliessa rolled over and went back to sleep.

She met the new girls in the morning. There were two of them: Azizelia and Baliose. Azizelia was a former drudge, and much of her life and plight sounded so like Annaliessa’s own that she immediately befriended the girl. Baliose, on the other hand, was a Ranking girl, the daughter of a Lord, and her beauty was only skin deep. At twenty one years old, she was the oldest of the female candidates, and seemed to believe that should give her special privaliges, demanding the younger ones bring her breakfast in bed instead of going to the hall. She also demanded help with dressing – at twenty one! – which Kimberlee, good soul she was, gave her.

“But there’ll be no one to help you as a dragonrider,” she warned her.

“Oh nonsense!” was Baliose’s reply.

Annaliessa was a good and sweet girl who tried hard to see the best in everyone, but she couldn’t find it in Baliose. She was vain, shallow and petty.

Still, it didn’t matter. Sirena said they got girls like her all the time, and she was surprised there wasn’t more because of the Queen egg. “They never impress. Dragons need you to open your heart and love them, but all she has is love for herself.”

“Oh, I like that evaluation,” said Indigo wryly.

Azizelia was like the anti-Baliose. She was a sweet, kind girl who offered help whenever and wherever she thought she could and should. Annaliessa felt a little sorry for her having to share Arwen Raven Nightshade’s room. Azizelia cheerfully said she didn’t mind. Since her presence seemed to brighten up any room she entered, maybe it would counteract Arwen Raven Nightshade’s dark, cold one.

They could hope.

The Weyr was different, and it was exciting. Sure, there were bad things about it, like the candidates dying, and that scary man, and Baliose and that new boy who just arrived and kept pushing everyone around, but there were much more good things, like her new friends, and the dragons, and the prospect of her own dragon.

Annaliessa had never been so happy in her whole entire life!


	24. Yariel: He lives in you.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Author’s Note  
> I do not own the Dragonriders of Pern.

The last week had been blissfully quiet where it came to big events. Sure, there were arguments and fights amongst the candidates, often caused by either his cousin Dudlen and the three boys who had started following him round as lackies. Yariel himself could remember being chased round Porret Hold and courtyard as a child in what Dudlen and his parents called a game until he was caught and beaten to a pulp.

Fun times.

Still, Dudlen knew better than to bother him now, not when he broke his wrists the last time. Yariel stepped in when he saw him picking on any the smaller boys, not that it ever seemed to deter his cousin.

“Let’s face it baby brother, our dear cousin just isn’t that bright,” Dorasa said one bright afternoon after Yariel had driven him away from bullying (or trying to) Kederlon, a young weyrbred boy.

“Let him learn the hard way and have someone else ring his head.”

“It’s not him that bothers me. I just can’t leave him to bully others like that. It’s not right.”

Mia laughed. “So it’s your saving people thing then?”

“Something like that.”

“He’s always had this saving people thing,” Mia explained for Venile, a weyrbred boy she had befriended. Dorasa shook her head.

“I get it. We protect people, that’s what we do. Even if it’s only from Dudlen.”

Yariel smiled. “Thank you.”

They made their way down to the beach. No one else was down there today and it was quiet and empty. They set up their blanket and basket on the sand.

“Last one to the water’s a wherry,” Dorasa called, stripping off her boots, tunic and trews. Mia blushed scarlet and turned away. Yariel pulled off his own gear.

“You coming?”

“Uh…” Venile mumbled as Dorasa splashed into the water.

“Come on!”

Yariel jogged to join his sister. The water was cold, stinging his skin. He splashed to a deeper area and dove into the water. Venile followed a moment later, keeping a careful distance from them. Mia stayed on the beach for a good ten minutes before Dorasa dragged her in.

They spent a good hour swimming and splashing in the water. Glimmer, Marvel, Sal and Ric swooped and dived about above them, darting down to skim over the water and pulling up again with glistening wet wings.

They settled on the sand when Mia and Venile began to get tired. Dorasa opened the basket and passed round canteens of water and sweet rolls. The four firelizards fluttered around them, chirping hopefully and hungrily. Yariel broke sections from his rolls and fed his demanding companions, while Dorasa did the same with hers. Mia offered food to all four of them. They snatched it eagerly from her fingers. She grinned and scratched Glimmer’s head. The little Queen trilled happily.

“Do you really think we could Impress one of the Queen dragons?” she asked.

“Everyone has a chance,” Venile said.

“I don’t know if I want a Queen,” Dorasa muttered, but Mia and Venile didn’t notice. It would be too perfect though, if Dorasa Impressed one of the young Queens and Mia the other. Yariel was pretty sure they had never been that lucky. Bad luck seemed to follow them around.

“Some people must have a better chance than others though. Like Sirena says Baliose doesn’t have a chance at all.”

“Dragons don’t often choose people who can’t love them, if they’re selfish or just outright nasty.”

“Dudlen,” Mia muttered.

“But they choose who they choose. Sometimes it’s obvious with some candidates, like if they can speak to all dragons, or have mental gifts, but sometimes not. The dragons chooses, the rider obeys.”

Glimmer climbed up onto Mia’s head and perched there in her bushy hair. Yariel gazed out across the water. What would happen if the girls Impressed and he didn’t, he wondered? Or if it was the other way round? He came here for Dorasa, but what if he Impressed and she didn’t and he had to leave her behind?

The thought made his stomach churn. Marvel chirped worriedly. He scratched his head. There were seventy one eggs on those sands. There had to be one for him. And if there wasn’t, he could wait.

A wind swept over them as a large gold dragon passed overhead and wheeled lazily round to come down for a landing. She was bigger than most of the other dragons Yariel had seen, though he judged that she was smaller than Nareth, the brooding Queen on the sands. The rider was a tall, weatherbeaten woman with brown hair streaked by grey and deep creases in her face. The four candidates stood to meet her. Yariel, Venile and Dorasa bowed to the great dragon, while Mia curtsied neatly.

“Uh, this is Queenrider Lannai,” Venile stammered.

“Good afternoon Queenrider.”

“Good afternoon. Mind if we join you?”

“Will we be bothering you?” Mia asked anxiously.

“Of course not. The beach is for everyone. Desuneth just likes the water.”

The gold had waded into the waves and was bathing in them. Ric, Sal, Glimmer and Marvel darted here and there about her head, splashing water over her glistening hide.

“Yours?” asked Lannai.

“Mine are the Queen and the brown. The bronzes are Dorasa’s,” Yariel replied. The dragon flapped at the firelizards with one wing, happily dipping her head under the water.

“She’s beautiful,” Dorasa murmured.

“Would you like to help bathe her?”

They did, swimming out to the great dragon and washing the dirt and muck from her golden hide. Glimmer, Sal, and Ric helped out, but Marvel had long since decided he liked divebombing people much better. The Queen, Desuneth, attempted to shoo him away, flapping at him with one great wing. Marvel trilled with delight at this new game.

The great golden Queen was huge and took them an hour to wash. Being that she looked smaller than Nareth, Yariel wondered how long it must take for Weyrwoman Jalenna to bathe and oil her dragon.

“She’s so big,” Mia said. Lannai laughed.

“Desuneth is small for a Queen. They’re the biggest dragons on Pern, and it takes hard work to care for them. What colour are you standing for?”

“Gold or Green, I don’t mind,” Mia replied.

“I’d be happy with any colour,” Dorasa murmured, watching a huge bronze fly overhead, accompanied by a much smaller blue.

“That’s the spirit we want! You keep that attitude when you’re on the sands. The Weyr needs all the dragon colours to function, not just the Queens and bronzes. A lot of candidates forget that you know. And dragons must always Impress.”

Yariel nodded quietly. One of the first things R’ton had taught them was what happened to dragonets who failed to Impress on the sands. That was why it was such a concern they still didn’t have enough candidates. Yariel had heard rumours that they were going to open it up to younger and older weyrbrats to try and make up some of the numbers.

Speaking of numbers, they were crossing the weyrbowl just in time to see a brown and a green dragon sweep down for a landing. The two riders helped their three passengers dismount and unload their trunks.

“New candidates?” called Dorasa.

“Can we leave them with you?” asked the brown rider.

“Sure. We’ll take them back to the barracks.”

The two boys and one girl looked to be in their early teens and were similar enough that they were obviously siblings. The two boys were identical, while the girl shared their dark hair and eyes and facial structure. They introduced themselves as Darunican, Ilisandora, and Squiglerusay. Venile frowned at the last one. “Did- Did your parents hate you?”

Mia shook her head. “Let me guess, they threw in a bit of everyone they or you might possibly inherit from?”

One of the boys, Darunican or Squiglerusay, shook their head. “Worse. Our parents were big history and hero buffs. They threw in part of pretty much ever famous rider, harper, healer, or hero they could think of.”

“Oh, so it’s Daru as in Lidarun, the red pox Healer?”

“Yup.”

“You three must have had a rough childhood.”

“You have no idea.”

“I’m Yariel, this is my sister Dorasa.”

The three stared at them.

“Wait for it,” murmured Dorasa.

“You-”

“Don’t do it,” said Yariel.

“You’re the Prophesised Ones!”

“And we’re off,” Dorasa said.

“But you two are actual heroes!”

“Yup.”

“What are you doing here?”

“Standing as candidates, same as you. Can we move on from this topic of conversation?”

“Sorry, I just… I thought…”

“Candidate barracks are this way.”

Indigo, Katsu, and Solaris met the newcomers with squeals of excitement.

“Indigo?”

“Darunican?”

“Katsu? Solaris!”

“Ilisandora!”

“Squiggle!”

Since they seemed to know each other, they left them to talk and get settled and returned to the weyrbowl. Dorasa nudged him. “Admit it, you were getting as sick of all this as I was.”

“I’m still waiting for you to be kidnapped again,” he admitted.

“That’s what I have the sword for baby brother.”

“Your swordsmanship hasn’t stopped it the last four times.”

“One of those times I was like twelve, and another was by literal darkness. How was I meant to stab literal shadows?”

“It’d be nice to be normal for a bit.”

“Yeah.”

Except nothing about them had ever been normal. They’d never even had a shot at a normal life. Yariel was nine when he was called away on his first quest, and how was he ever meant to live a normal life after that?

He stopped Dudlen from bullying a pair of small children to try and take his mind off things, but he was still thinking on it when he closed his eyes to sleep that night.


	25. Poor Unfortunate Souls: Sirena 2.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Author’s Note  
> I do not own the Dragonriders of Pern. All rights belong to their rightful owners.  
> Non-sarcastic, genuine chapter warning: BEWARE. This is a violent chapter containing death, and probably one of the most serious chapters in the fic.

They were halfway through getting dressed when Dancer, Kuyaran’s queen firelizard, blinked from _between_ and began twittering and screeching at the top of her little voice. She was glowing noticeably more golden than normal.

“Rising?” Sirena asked lazily.

“No! Threadfall!”

“What? But we’re not due Threadfall!”

“Well that’s what she’s showing me!”

They finished dressing hurriedly, binding each other’s hair up to keep it from their faces or being a Thread trap, and hurried out into the common room in time to meet T’vor, a weyrling who Impressed bronze Jeserenth a turn ago. The common room appeared to be full of firelizards which were appearing and vanishing seemingly at random, chirping and screeching at intervals.

“Thread’s falling! Right over the Weyr!” T’vor announced.

“That’s out of pattern,” Sirena said critically.

“I know. Weyrwoman Jalenna says anyone who wants to walk sweep is to report to one of the four meeting points. They’re going out in ten minutes, when leading edge comes over.”

“Thanks. I’ll take it from here.”

She, Kuyaran, and Revina moved down the chambers, banging on the doors and then throwing them open. Many of the candidates were already up, though only half of those were actually dressed. Dorasa and Yariel, a little worryingly, weren’t there at all.

Sirena realised with dawning horror that they had probably gone out to spar as they did most mornings.

“Kuyaran, get Dancer to find Dorasa and Yariel!”

“What’s going on?” asked Indigo sleepily.

“Thread’s falling! Anyone who wants to walk sweep needs to report to our meeting point in five minutes; anyone who doesn’t needs to stay here in the barracks. Do not leave!”

Although anyone who couldn’t walk sweep had no place being a dragonrider on the front lines. 

“Dorasa and Yariel are in the bowl; they’re going to the meeting point on the east side since it’s closer to them,” Kuyaran said. That made sense. Yariel and Dorasa were fairly level headed and the candidates Sirena would label least likely to panic. And they had their firelizards.

“Are we missing anyone else?”

Sirena did a quick count. “I don’t think so. Don’t have time to check fully. If you’re walking sweep get moving!”

They hurried down to the meeting point, where most of the male candidates were already gathered and being organised by Virona, Jurdree’s second. She passed Sirena a flamethrower as she arrived. “We’ll have to be careful. It’s heavy, and it’s coming right over us.”

Sirena gazed out over the Weyrbowl to where the sky was flashing silver. Even from here she could tell the fall was heavy. The dragons of Sunspyre were flaming it furiously from the air. Both the Junior Queens, Lulorth and Desuneth were in the air, fighting from the Queen’s Wing.

Soon enough that should be her.

Most of the female candidates did show up for sweep, probably because they had been threatened with pain of death by R’ton during his lessons. The only ones that didn’t were Ilisandora, who only arrived yesterday and would really be more of a hinderence anyway, Tulliyoh, the new girl who arrived last night (was this going to be the new thing, riders dropping off their candidates in the dead of night? She hoped not) and would also be more of a hinderence, Baliose, and Jakeiria. Other than those few, the others had all dutifully arrived.

Once the leading edge passed over they set out, armed with the flamethrowers and agonthee sprayers. The Wings were right overhead now, charring the Thread to ash as it fell towards their Weyr. It was windy, which would make it harder. Firelizards darted about overhead, searing silver slivers to black ash before they could reach the ground.

Then from above came a huge mass of Thread, so big Sirena could see its size even from the ground.

“By Faranth’s egg,” murmured Kuyaran.

The Thread was upon the uppermost dragons even as they desperately tried to flame it from the air. Another great mass was already falling to their left. Sirena had been walking sweep since she was nine years old and barely big enough to carry the agonthee sprayer. She had seen Thread come down in patches, clumps, tangled knots, alone, and various other ways, but she’d never seen anything like this. Thread was falling in massive sheets, bigger even than the bodies of several dragons put together. The dragons on the upper wing vanished between only to return with Thread already on top of them.

Sirena couldn’t see who it was from the ground, but she saw one of the bronzes flash _between_ as Thread overtook them, and knew from deep within her heart they wouldn’t be coming back.

Dancer screeched above their heads, searing a clump of Thread to fine black ash. Kuyaran raised her flamethrower to burn another clump too near Sirena’s arm for comfort. She felt the heat from the flames against her skin. “Thanks.”

Kuyaran swung the flamethrower round to blast another clump. “Snap out of it and thank me later! There’s too much coming through!”

The sight of a brown flashing _between_ , never to return, tugged her back to reality. Sirena lugged her own flamethrower upwards to sear another clump of Thread.

From somewhere ahead of them, someone shouted ‘take cover!’ Sirena didn’t know who it was, but if she ever found out, she would strangle them, because it set off a chain reaction of absolute chaos. The sweep group immediately fell out of position as the panicked candidates bolted for the safety of the Weyr. Caught off guard by the knowledge that another dragon had just vanished _between_ , Sirena was knocked to the ground as someone slammed into her shoulder. For a moment she was stuck on the ground, Dancer darting and screeching above her head. Finally she managed to push herself back to her feet. There was Thread on the ground around them, piling up like sand. Kuyaran blasted it with her flamethrower. Above them, three of the smaller dragons, two greens and a blue, were trying to flame areas as big as their bodies just to avoid being eaten alive by the mass of Thread falling from above. Kuyaran screamed suddenly and doubled over, clutching her chest. Dancer vanished _between_. Sirena grabbed Kuyaran’s arm before she could fall and scorched the mass of Thread falling towards them. Only a short distance away she could see sweep walkers being caught by pale silver Thread while so close to safety.

They wouldn’t make it.

She grabbed Kuyaran’s arm. “The water!”

The safety of the Weyr was too far, but they were only fifty feet from the edge of the island and the cliffs that dropped away into the sea. She dragged Kuyaran with her as the other girl gasped and stumbled. By the time they reached the halfway point she seemed to be recovering and blasted a clump of Thread in front of them. Above her, Sirena felt another bronze flash between forever. She stumbled. Kuyaran caught her arm. “How many?”

“Four,” she gasped. The usual rate was one death every five to seven falls. They were already above that.

They skidded to a halt at the cliffs, which fell away into nothing. Sirena had been cliff diving at the other side of the island as a kid, but the cliffs there were far smaller. There were other people in the water, she noticed, though further round to the right where they could have jumped from the smaller cliffs or simply waded in from the beach. She lifted her flamethrower to blast a clump of Thread coming down too close to Kuyaran.

“You sure about this?” Kuyaran rasped.

“No,” Sirena replied, slinging the flamethrower over her back.

“On three then?”

“Three.”

“Two.”

“One.”

For a moment there was nothing beneath them but open air. Then they hit the water. It was a freezing cold shock to the system. They plunged under the surface and a moment later several clumps of Thread hit it above them. Sirena swam aside even as it drowned above them. She squinted up at the surface just in time to see and feel a green shape vanish from the dragon ranks far above them. A hand caught her wrist, tugging her back towards the cliffs. She followed.

They had to surface an arm’s length from them, desperately needing air. Thread fell in the water around them. There was a narrow rocky outcropping on the cliffs, jutting out over the water. They plunged under the surface again and paddled over, carefully surfacing underneath it. They stayed there, panting, too breathless and shaken to talk. Sirena swung her flamethrower from her back as a sliver of silver thread came too close to their refuge, drowning in the seawater. Above them, yet another bronze vanished _between_ , never to return. Sirena keened softly. From their place far below they couldn’t see who it was, but she knew most of the dragons in the Weyr, certainly all the bronzes, and would find out later.

The Queen’s wing, with the two largest dragons in the Weyr and four of the biggest bronzes, was struggling the most. Sirena had and could see the bronzes flashing in and out of _between_ , while the smaller dragons in that wing were mostly focused on flaming the areas around their bodies and not being eaten alive by Thread. Lulorth and Jalmoka were badly out of position, far too close to brown Tabaroth and R’nol, while Desuneth and Lannai had to keep flashing _between_ to avoid the huge patches of Thread.

Sirena saw it coming.

It only took a few seconds, though it felt like forever.

Lulorth banked steep left to avoid a large mass of Thread. Jalmoka scored the edge of it, but most of it came through, some burrowing into Tabaroth. Lulorth’s sharp correction meant she overcorrected and slammed into Desuneth’s wing, the impact flipping her over in the air. Desuneth tried to backflap to escape it, but seemed to somehow be tangled up with Lulorth, who was flailing madly. The two of them were quickly losing height, tumbling towards the ground. They slammed into Jeserenth, who was on firestone duty to the Queen’s wing. He vanished between with an anguished cry. The two Queens continued to fall. A third golden figure appeared from beneath them, straining to reach them. A mass of Thread decended from above. Lannai blasted it with her flamethrower, but Jalmoka didn’t appear to be doing anything. Lulorth bellowed desperately, backwinging in an attempt to separate herself from Desuneth. Sirena guessed their harnesses were tangled, as she only dragged Desuneth with her and pulled her under the Thread.

Both Queens vanished _between._

They didn’t return.

There was a single moment of disbelief, a belief that they must have reemerged somewhere else, out of the Thread, they must have done-

Nareth bugled a cry of alarm and loss.

The sense of heartbreak hit a moment later, crashing down on top of her, pain and horror. Dancer screamed. Sirena doubled over in the water, gasping for air.

“They’ve gone?” Kuyaran whispered, more of a statement than a question.

“Yes,” Sirena rasped.

Just like that.

The rest of the Threadfall passed in some sort of dreamlike trance. They stayed safe under their ledge, flaming any Thread that got too near. Dancer stayed huddled on Kuyaran’s head, helping to flame any Thread that came close. Three more dragons, a green, a brown, and another bronze, vanished _between_ before fall was over. Even then they stayed firmly where they were for a good ten minutes, too numb to move and afraid to leave the stone shelter in case Thread started falling again. At last, when they started to hear the voices of the sweep walkers above them, out to search for burrorws (which shouldn’t be too difficult), they ventured out.

They had come down from the steepest cliffs. There was no chance of either of them climbing back up even if they weren’t numb, shivering and shaken, so they had to swim over to the rocks and then climb over them to the beach. Clumps and strands of dead or dying Thread were wriggling on the rocks. Sirena turned her flamethrower on them once they had climbed past, turning them to black ash.

Thread was piled high on the beach, trying to burrow into the sand. They turned their flamethrowers on it to clear a safe path, working their way carefully over to the path up. There were people scattered everywhere with flamethrowers and agonthee sprayers, destroying the vast amounts of Thread that had made it through the Wings. The keening of the dragons filled the air. Sirena could feel it deep in her heart and chest, loss and heartbreak.

A figure in heavy wherskin hurried over to them. Sirena recognised them as H’bor, a Weyrling from Lulorth’s last clutch – her final clutch, now.

“Sirena! Kuyaran! Are you hurt?”

Sirena glanced down at herself, and then at Kuyaran, who now had Dancer bundled tightly in her arms. “I don’t think so,” she replied.

“Dancer’s been Threadscored though.”

That was an understatement. Dancer’s entire back, and some of her wings, were red raw with vicious Threadscore. The firelizard chirped miserably.

“Get her inside, get some numbweed on her,” Sirena said.

“But-”

“Now.”

Kuyaran nodded and hurried away, Dancer clutched tightly to her chest. Sirena turned back to H’bor. “Where do you need me?”

“Inside and warming up preferably.”

Sirena hefted her flamethrower in one hand. “Don’t be like that.”

BREAK

It took them four hours to clear the entire island and make sure it was fully clear of Thread. The dragons keened throughout, the sound vibrating deep within her chest. Sirena felt the sharp tug and snap of several more vanishing _between_ forever, catching sight of only one, a great bronze, as it took flight over the water before disappearing. If she hadn’t had a job to do, Sirena might just have curled up and sobbed. It was one reason she hadn’t wanted to go back inside – though doubtless there would be plenty going on there too with injured riders and dragons.

She met up with Yariel and Dorasa as she worked the sweep, both of them armed with agonthee sprayers and their firelizards darting about here and there, sometimes hissing out spurts and flame. All of them bore signs of Threadscore, though there was none on their owners.

“Are you hurt?” she asked.

“We’re fine,” Dorasa assured her as her twin bronzes located another burrow and blasted it with flames. Yariel shrugged off his jacket and draped it over Sirena’s shoulders. She frowned at him.

“You’re shivering.”

She hadn’t even noticed.

It was midday by the time they returned to the chaos of the Weyr. There was still people and uproar everywhere: wounded riders crying for their dragons, frightened and confused dragons bellowing for their lifemates, injured dragons huddling in the weyrbowl, and injured folk everywhere. It seemed like almost no one had come out unscathed. Most of the candidates, male and female, were amongst either the injured or those helping. Ellador had pitched in with the Healers, as had Ritilia, Yornam and Rasia. Brizala, Kimberlee, and Annaliessa Sirena saw helping riders treat their injured dragons. She wondered for a moment about her own parents and their dragons before pitching in to help Releth, an aging blue with threadscore down his back and wing and one of the few still not treated after all this time.

“Has no one seen you yet?” Sirena asked as she began to clean the wound.

_“There are many injured.”_

“Where’s K’ret?”

_“He hurts.”_

She should have expected that answer really. Sirena slathered him in numbweed and looked around for any dragons still untreated. Normally the end of a Fall was a rauctious affair, with a feast and plenty of alcohol, but this…

This was fallout.

Carnage.

Sirena could see already how many of the injured were bronzes, bigger browns, or ageing, and looking around the bowl at the few dragons who had come out unscathed along with their riders she could see the disproportionate number of greens and blues to the bigger colours.

“Who did we lose?” she asked Nulmulth, one of the larger and older (surviving) bronzes.

_“Desuneth. Lulorth. Gionduth. Lamenth. Baimath. Teridath. Murianth. Padelth. Piyeth. Brulserth. Lanonth. Halirilth. Jeserenth. Tormoluth. Bririth. Kelzilth. Sindith. Zenunth. Jelzith. Tuleth._ _Bremerth_. _”_

Nine bronze, four brown, three blue, two green, and one whose name she didn’t recognise (which was a bit odd, admittedly).

And two Queens.

But they were more than that.

Sirena had known many of the dragons and riders since she was a child. Five of them she had seen Hatch; two of them she had stood as a candidate at their hatching. Great bronze Gionduth had been one of the biggest bronzes at the Weyr, Calinoth’s only true rival. Blue Bririth Sirena had toddled beneath when she was a babe.

She wiped away tears she didn’t know she was crying.

There was a sharp, mournful cry, and she felt the tug in her chest once more.

_“Chazailth is no more.”_

Another brown, ageing with an elderly rider.

Sirena finished applying the numbweed to Nulmulth’s scored hide. She learnt as she was treating him that Thread was now falling in that same unusual way in the High Reaches.

Inland.

At least they had had the sea to protect them. High Reaches had nothing but expanses of mountains.

Lucky them.

Sirena wouldn’t want to be in their boots right now.

“How does that feel?”

_“I still hurt inside.”_

“How bad is J’son?”

_“He sleeps.”_

She’d have to ask Korvash if and when she got the chance. Sirena adjusted Yariel’s jacket around her and moved on to Tillurth, a young brown the size of some smaller bronzes from one of Nareth’s earlier clutches.

She had only just started talking to and treating him when there was a sharp tug from deep within her. Sirena gasped and dropped the jar of numbweed, which smashed on the ground at her feet. Tillurth’s keening grew louder. Sirena’s first thought was for her mother and Nareth who she still hadn’t seen. “Who was that?” she whispered.

_“Jacelith of High Reaches.”_

Their Senior Queen, and another Queen gone. Sirena had met Jacelith and her rider Sebrine a few times, when they came on visits to Sunspyre. She joined the dragons’ keening, deep within her chest, and wondered whether Kelzilth, the name she didn’t recognise, had been another High Reaches dragon.

This was like living a nightmare.

Sirena wished more than anything she could wake up and have it be this morning again.

Her father’s dragon, great bronze Calinoth, was amongst the injured. Sirena made her way up to him once she finished with Tillurth. He had already been seen to of course, he was the Weyrleader’s dragon. Ugly raw Threadscore marred his back and dripped down his left foreleg and wing, as well as a good chunk of his tail. He stretched his head out to greet her. His skin was nice and warm.

“Where’s father?” she whispered.

_“He sleeps.”_

“How bad is he?”

_“He hurts.”_

There was another sharp, painful tug from deep in her chest. Calinoth’s keening loudened. Sirena rocked on her feet. “Who was that?”

_“Triabeth of High Reaches.”_

Their younger Queen. Calinoth snaked his head forward to curl his neck around her. Sirena settled between his forelegs and he laid his head over her, curling protectively around her. For the first time since she could remember, Sirena felt warm.

BREAK

Sirena was sure it was less than an hour, maybe even less than half that, but it felt like she stayed there forever before her mother found her there.

“Sirena.”

“Mum,” she whispered, stumbling forwards and wrapping her arms around her. Her mum steadied her.

“Are you alright? Are you hurt?”

She shook her head. “We sheltered in the sea.”

“A lot of the sweep volunteers did. Who were you with?”

“Kuyaran. Dancer was scored. Why did the Thread fall like that? That wasn’t normal.”

“I’ve never known it fall like that before. It’s falling at High Reaches at the moment though. They’ve lost two of their Queens.”

Sirena nodded shakily. “I felt it.”

“Hopefully it’s a freak fall.”

“How’s Nareth?”

“Scored down her tail. She got singed when she tried to help Desuneth and Lulorth.”

“Her eggs?”

Her mother smiled. “They’re fine. Threadfall didn’t reach the Hatching Cavern, thank Faranth’s egg.”

There was a sense of shock and numbness hanging over the entire Weyr, as though everyone was unsure what to believe. Sirena wished more than anything she could close her eyes and make those they had lost return.

If only she could.

Her mother set her to organising and controlling the candidates, since R’ton had been injured during the Threadfall. Sirena slipped easily into the role, putting her mind to it as a distraction and having them begin to make food and meals for the many (like her) that hadn’t eaten at all today.

It helped a little, but not enough to stop her feeling three more dragons vanishing _between_ forever.

“They’re saying Thread’s falling over Telgar now,” Kuyaran, who was helping in the infirmary, told her.

Her mum told her that evening that Telgar, too, had lost two of their four Queens in the fall.


	26. We are One: Rasia 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I do not own the Dragonriders of Pern series. All rights to their rightful owners.

She hurt all over, a dull, aching pain. Rasia was fit and strong from years working the farm, but she’d been surprised awake this morning and hadn’t stopped to rest since. Her arms ached from carrying the sprayer, her legs ached from walking, and the rest of her just ached in general.

Yornam was fine. Not a strand of hair out of place. She hadn’t a clue what was going on of course, even thought it was normal until Rasia explained that no, _that_ was not normal.

Not at all.

There was, from what Rasia could understand, over a dozen dragons dead, mostly bronzes, but also bigger browns, and of course, most devastatingly of all, the two Queens.

It felt a little like the entire Weyr was in shock. Rasia and Yornam had spent the afternoon helping to treat and comfort the injured, bathing their wounds and taking them klah. Most of the other candidates were doing the same. Rasia was handing a mug of steaming klah to a trembling rider when a small brown firelizard flitted from _between_ and chirped loudly at her. It didn’t look like one of Yornam’s, though Rasia had never entirely managed to count or identify all of her many, many firelizards.

“I’m in the dining hall,” she said to it, assuming Yornam was wondering where she was. It trilled and dove crossly at her.

“Reckon it’s bringing you a message girl,” grunted the rider.

“Huh?”

“It’s wearing a collar.”

“Oh.” Rasia put her arm out and the little brown landed neatly on her forearm. She guessed it wasn’t very old, having long, gangly limbs and a thin neck. She pulled the roll of paper from the collar and unrolled it. It contained a few short lines in Dasian’s handwriting.

_Father cort in funy fredfal over the farm. Think hes dyin. Crops severly damaged. Me and the little ones sayf. Ar you sayf? Plees come._

_Dasian._

Rasia sat down heavily on the nearest chair. The brown firelizard chirped again and vanished _between._

“You alright there girl?” asked the rider.

“It’s from my brother. The Thread fell over our farm. He thinks our father’s dying.” She stared at the letter in her hands. One of Yornam’s firelizards appeared over her head a moment before her friend came over from across the hall. Rasia held the letter for her. She scanned down it.

“Oh. This is bad, right?”

“Yes, this is bad.”

“You want to see him?” asked the rider.

“Well, yes, but we’re here.”

“Where you from?”

“High Reaches.”

The rider got to his feet. “Cheroth and I can take you.”

Rasia blinked. “What, right now?”

“No, tomorrow. Yes of course right now!”

The rider, whose name was G’pey, spoke quickly with Jurdree. In the middle of all the chaos she agreed to let them go and visit the farm. Cheroth, a middle sized brown, greeted them outside in the Weyrbowl. Like all dragons, he met Yornam with a happy croon, though it was half-hearted to what it normally was. The two girls mounted behind the rider and the dragon took off. G’pey gave them a warning before they travelled _between_ , emerging above the slopes of the High Reaches.

Rasia’s breath caught.

Even from high above she could see the damage, brown and black scars over the landscape where the land and crops had been killed by enormous patches of Thread.

Thanks to the guidance of Yornam’s many firelizards, Cheroth had arrived close to the farm. There were huge chunks missing from the cropfields, massive blackened circles on the ground. Cheroth glided down and landed neatly outside the farmhouse. Sira and Daran ran out to meet them. Both had clearly been crying, with puffy eyes and streaked faces.

“Rasia, Rasia!” wailed Daran. Rasia caught him and scooped him into her arms. Sira cluched at her side. Rasia passed Daran to Yornam and hugged her sister. Dasian’s figure appeared in the doorway. Had he always been so tall, or had he grown in the few weeks she had been gone?

It felt like forever.

Rasia let go of Sira and met her eldest brother halfway, wrapping him up in her arms. He clutched at her like he was drowning. “The Threadfall… There was nothing… there was nothing we could do.”

“It was the same at Sunspyre. No one could do anything, even the dragons…” For a moment Rasia wondered what would happen if Thread fell like that again. “Where’s father?”

“This way.”

Dasian led them to the cottage. “Threadfall was getting past the dragons. Father took the agonthee sprayer out to try and protect the crops.”

“Idiot,” muttered G’pey. Dasian’s shoulders shuddered.

“I tried to burn the Thread out of him, but…” He led them through to the main bedroom, where their father was laid out in his bed. Asan, Ansa and Sidan were in there with him.

“Rasia!”

Sidan waved his arms at her eagerly. Ansa bobbed him up and down on her knee. Rasia slipped around the bed to join them. It looked like their father was asleep, red burns and Threadscore marking his lower body.

“I think I made it worse.”

The brown firelizard appeared and landed on his head, nuzzling his ear.

“Nothing you could have done kid,” grunted G’pey.

“But-”

Rasia squeezed his hand. “It wasn’t your fault.”

Their father never woke and died before night came. Rasia spoke at length with Dasian about what was best to do. The farm had been in their family for generations – but she was a sixteen turn old girl, and he was a thirteen turn old boy, how were they meant to run it? On top of that, there was so much damage that even tending to the crops that were left would be difficult. Even some of the outbuildings, which were half made of wood, had taken some considerable damage.

In the end, the solution was obvious. Her siblings would have to come with her to the Weyr. If she impressed they could stay; if she didn’t they would go from there on how to repair the farm. G’pey called in a pair of blue riders to help bury their father and then take them back to Sunspyre. Rasia made sure to ride with Dasian and Sidan, her oldest brother clinging to her as tight as he could.

They emerged above the Weyrbowl and swept down for a landing. From above, the damage to the island was much like that of the High Reaches.

“You got hit here too?” Dasian asked.

“I’ll explain when we get inside,” Rasia whispered.

The last thing the riders needed was a reminder of what had happened.

And so Dasian and his younger siblings arrived to stay at the Weyr with their sister, awaiting the Hatching that was to come.


	27. Reflection: Revina 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I do not own the Dragonriders of Pern or anything else you might recognise. All rights to their rightful owners.

The entire Weyr was in mourning.

Not just for Desuneth and Lulorth, or for their lost bronzes and browns, but for the Queens and dragons of all colours that had been lost across Pern.

Sirena gathered them all in the common room in the morning to explain the situation they were in. The twins were holding hands and looked paler than usual, Diazaikko-Lovea looked like she had been crying all night, as did Rasia and the random boy (and assorted small children) with her, and even Annaliessa was quiet. All the girls were in various states of shock and disarray. Only Dorasa, Azizelia, and Princess Lilyen Adalicia Midnight looked to be in any state of composure. Sirena waited until they were on sat the floor before she started.

“There are over a hundred dragons d-d-d-gone from across all the Weyrs. Most are – were – bronzes and bigger browns, who were the most vulnerable in the Fall, but some a- were blues and greens, and many of the Queen dragons are also d-d-gone, since as the biggest dragons on Pern, they were the most vulnerable.” She paused for a moment while they all let that sink in. “High Reaches has lost two, the Senior and one of the Juniors. So have Benden, Telgar, Ista, and Southern. Igen and Fort only lost one. Dawnfall’s lost all three. Edgelan only had one to begin with, and she wasn’t flying this fall since she’s egg heavy. As of right now, Benden, Telgar and Fort are the only Weyrs with more than one Queen.”

Faranth help them.

A Weyr could run on having one Queen during a pass, and many did, but during a Fall…

“That’s likely to change, since at least one will need to be transferred to Dawnfall. There are fourteen Queens left across Pern, with three of them still being Weyrlings. It is above importance that the two Queens on our sands hatch and impress safely. We cannot make any mistakes, there can’t be any accidents on the sands.Whichever of us impresses is going to have a huge responsibility, not just to our Weyr, but to all of Pern.”

Mia raised her hand. Sirena sighed and pointed at her. “Yes.”

“We do have enough dragons and strength to protect everyone don’t we?”

“Dragons will fly when Thread is in the sky,” Sirena replied. “Are there any more questions?”

Several of the girls put their hands up. Sirena pointed at Kimberlee first.

“What about the small gold egg?”

“Good question. I think for now we should treat it as another Queen. There’s a chance it might not hatch, and if it does, and it is a Queen, she’s going to be undersized, but the egg is gold, which suggests a Queen of some sort, even if she’s a Sport.”

“What about the big egg?” asked Mary Sue.

“We should be careful around all the hatchlings of course. It would be even more of a tragedy for any of them to go between at this time.”

“No, I mean, that one’s bigger than the Queen eggs. Could it be a Queen?”

“Queen eggs have golden shells.”

“Firelizard Queens don’t,” Dorasa pointed out larconically.

“We’ve no reason to believe that one’s a Queen. My mum actually thinks it could be some sort of freak dud, she’s never seen an egg so big before.”

“Is one of the new Queen riders going to have to transfer?” asked Brizala.

“Almost certainly.”

“How will it be decided which one?”

“They can play rock paper scissors. Anyone else?”

“Can I go home?” asked Diazaikko-Lovea. Sirena blinked. The other girls stared at her.

“… say what?”

Diazaikko-Lovea’s lower lip trembled. “Yesterday was the worst day of my life. I don’t think I’ve ever been so scared. I can’t fight Thread, I can’t do what you did, I can’t. I want to go home.”

Sirena sighed. “Takes a lot of bravery to admit that. Go and pack your things, I’ll find someone to take you home. Does anyone else want to leave?”

Surprisingly, no one did, though it looked like Sherazzo Connifer Bluebel had some doubts that were soothed by her siblings. It made sense, Revina supposed. A surprising amount of the candidates for this Hatching appeared to be orphans with nowhere to go and no reason for leaving the Weyr.

With that sorted out for now, they headed down for breakfast. Since R’ton had been injured in the Fall and there was still a mass of otherwise confusion, morning exercises and lessons were cancelled for the day. Sirena hurried over to join her mother at the head table. Revina eyed the seat next to Yariel and moved towards it as Dorasa was fetching dishes. Mia was already sat on his other side. Revina sauntered towards him. Yariel groaned and waved a hand at her. His Queen firelizard was wrapped around his neck.

“Dorasa’s sat there.”

“Don’t you want a different kind of comfort than your sister can give you?”

His firelizard hissed crossly and snapped her teeth.

“Not from you.”

“Are you sure?” Revina reached out to his shoulder. He slapped her away.

“So not in the mood,” said a new voice. Dorasa shouldered her aside with effortless strength and set a plate down in front of Yariel before sliding into the chair next to him.

“Please go away, thank you very much.”

Revina took a seat on the other side of the table. “I don’t think he needs you to babysit him.”

Yariel picked at his food. He looked tired and drawn. “What do you want?”

“I wondered if you wanted to go for a walk later. I can show you some secret parts of the island.”

“You mean the island that’s been ravanged by Thread? No thank you.”

Revina sighed heavily. “You know, some of us are going to be Weyrlings and riders in the same class. You really should make more friends.”

“We have more friends. You’re just not one of them,” replied Yariel.

“But-”

His eyes flashed gold. “Back off. Not in the mood.”

Revina backed off, taking her plate and moving across the room to sit with Brizala and Kimberlee. Perhaps she should wait to try getting close to him once they had impressed. And there would be nothing he could do once her dragon rose. Her mother had told her so many stories about the Son of the Sun, the Chosen One. It had to be fate that he was here now.

“Girl, you have got it bad,” said Kimberlee. Revina flushed scarlet, clashing with her hair.

“I have not.”

“You have,” agreed Brizala.

“He’s literally the Chosen One. He’s strong, and beautiful, and he’s destined to be my weyrmate.”

Kimberlee shook her head. “Agreeing on the first two, not so much on the last.”

“You’ll see.”

“Aye, I’m sure we will.”

It was an odd kind of day. There was still plenty to be done, but they were duties that weren’t normally so… massive. Treating injured riders and wounded dragons, sweeping the island for any missed Thread burrows, and helping with the cooking since some of the lower caverns workers and cooks had been injured in the Fall too were the main ones. No one smiled, and what talk there was was mostly about the lost riders and dragons or the terrifying Fall. Revina barely knew what to do with herself.

Sirena seemed to be taking it the worst. Why it should be worse for her than anyone else Revina was unsure. Maybe Little Miss Perfect just had to continue being the centre of attention.

The problem with getting close to Yariel was that he never seemed to be apart from Dorasa and Mia. If she could just talk to him while he was alone-!

She was sure he would fall to her charms. Most boys did. She always got what she wanted in the end.

But getting him alone…

Was proving an impossible task. Revina had been trying since the third day, but especially since Desiree, he never appeared to go anywhere on his own.

If only she’d had a bronze – or even brown – firelizard. She could have tried to get close to him by offering it as a mate for his little Queen. Unfortunately, it was only that that caught her interest in the little flits – she’d never really cared for them before, more interested in the idea of Impressing a great fighting dragon.

Who would want a firelizard when they could have a dragon?

Certainly not her.

She finally saw her chance the following day when Dorasa stopped midway through changing a basket of glows, frowned, and then leant over to whisper something to Yariel. He nodded and waved a casual hand at the end of the tunnel. Dorasa hurried up it. Revina smiled and edged towards him.

“Still not in the mood.”

“Come on, it’s not like big sister’s here to see.” She gave him a coy smile, leaning against the wall.

“I’ve played boytoy for one female candidate; it’s not happening again. Thanks but no thanks Revina.”

“You know, I always thought you were some big hero.”

“I’m not into fangirls.”

“I’m not a fangirl. I’ve heard all your stories; I know-”

“You sound like a fangirl.”

Revina blushed scarlet. “I don’t get you. How can you be like this?”

“Easily. Please leave me in peace Revina; I don’t bother you.”

She grinned. “I wouldn’t mind it if you did.”

He walked away.

Was he always going to be like this?

Revina had never known a boy his age so difficult to fluster!

Maybe he was into men.

That would be disappointing for the Chosen One.

**Author's Note:**

> As with all my fanfiction, this was started as light hearted stress relief to poke some fun at nothing in particular. It kinda took on a life of it’s own though, and there are some much more serious moments. It even has something resembling *le gasp* plot! (which was never intended to happen.) Because of what it started as though, there are some distinctly *Non-Pern* elements to this story (*ahem, characters with #tragic backstories #mysterious abilities and inexplicable superpowers #characters who are totally in the wrong fandom #characters from other fandoms who have no rights being there ahem*). So if that’s not your thing, you have been forewarned. If it is your thing or you just want to laugh at the hot mess of insanity that is this story, welcome! Grab some coco, or klah, whatever you want, and settle in for this bumpy ride.


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